The objective of this Decision is to maintain a high and uniform level of safety in terms of aerodrome design.
This Decision amends the certification specifications (CS) and guidance material (GM) for the aerodrome design (CS-ADR-DSN) and transposes Amendment 15 to ICAO Annex 14, on Aerodrome Design and Operations. The changes are of non-controversial nature with a positive safety benefit and are not expected to induce significant efforts on the industry and national competent authorities.
The main changes concern:
- the standardised naming of taxiways;
- location of holding bays, runway-holding positions, intermediate holding positions and road-holding positions;
- runway guard lights, no-entry bar, information signs.
These changes aim to improve the navigation and efficiency on the aerodrome surface for both flight crews and vehicle operators, thus reducing the risk of runway incursions and taxiway confusion. The changes will reduce fuel burn while taxiing thus increasing environmental performance.
Additionally, this Decision introduces a new set of certification specifications for the design of aircraft arresting systems to ensure the harmonisation of the design within the Member States, the same level of safety, and, in addition, to facilitate the certification process in accordance with Commission Regulation (EU) No 139/2014.
Furthermore, it also clarifies that the provision of runway shoulders for 60 m-wide runways is not necessary for certain wide-body aircraft. This will avoid significant costs for the aerodrome operators and administrative burden for both the aerodrome operators and national competent authorities.
Finally, this Decision includes some changes of editorial nature to improve the overall quality of the aerodrome certification specifications. These changes improve consistency and are not expected to incur any impact on the stakeholders.
