The work of the aerodrome rulemaking groups started in July 2010. The next meetings of the groups will take place in December 2010 and late January 2011 respectively.
As reported under ‘EASA News’ in the autumn issue of Communiqué Airport Business, the competencies of the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) have been extended to rulemaking in the areas of aerodromes (ADR) and Air Traffic Management (ATM)/Air Navigation Services (ANS). It is foreseen that the Implementing Rules (IR) for aerodromes will be adopted by the end of 2013.
The Agency has identified and prioritised the following necessary rulemaking tasks to set up the system of rules for aerodrome safety certification:
- ADR.001 – Requirements for aerodrome operator organisations and competent authorities;
- ADR.002 – Requirements for aerodrome operations; and
- ADR.003 – Requirements for aerodrome design.
The groups started their work in July 2010. In this issue of ‘EASA News’ we inform you about the state of play of the discussions in the groups. The next meetings of the groups will take place in December 2010 and late January 2011 respectively.
General issues
The work of the aerodrome rulemaking groups started in July 2010. Although the adopted work plan foresees that the deliverables of each group are to be submitted by July 2011, the target is to have all of them completed as soon as possible, so they may be reviewed by the groups and aggregated by EASA. So far, all groups have met three times (July, September and November) and additional meetings may be held if necessary.
The work plan foresees the publication of the relevant Notices of Proposed Amendment (NPA) containing soft and hard rules at the same time in January 2012. However, it has been recognised that the binding Implementing Rules are meant to have priority as to other necessary regulatory measures.
A series of methods are foreseen to achieve and maintain the necessary coordination between the ADR rulemaking groups, as well as with respect to the work done in the ATM domain. These methods include: joint meetings of the groups, chairpersons meetings, regular updates from the ATM groups and vice-versa, as well as internal EASA coordination meetings.
ADR.001 – Requirements for aerodrome operator organisations and competent authorities
The release of the Comment response document (CRD) on the planned horizontal rules inside the new regulations on authority and organisation requirement (AR/OR.GEN) as part of the first extension of EASA’s remit has been a major input to this group’s work. The group adopted a working methodology and developed a relevant working tool to check the legal basis of the foreseen rules. An additional meeting will be held in December. The first draft rules for the specific ADR parts under the Regulation on Authority Requirements are expected to be presented in January 2011.
ADR.002 – Requirements for aerodrome operations
The group has adopted its working methodology and has drafted a Table of Contents, which is serving as a driver for its work. It has also identified certain areas for coordination with other groups. The scope of the rules of ADR operation, i.e. the services that can be regulated has been identified. The group has started the drafting of the rules.
ADR.003 – Requirements for aerodrome design
The group has identified the areas to be covered and developed a working methodology. In addition, it has identified areas where coordination with other groups is needed. The drafting of the rules has already started, while an additional meeting will take place in December 2010.
