The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has finalized a rule requiring commercial airports to implement safety management systems (SMS). Over 250 of the country’s busiest airports will need to devise and implement SMS within the next five years.
FAA completes safety rule
The final rule will take effect 60 days after publication in the Federal Register and apply to approximately 265 Part 139 airports – qualifying airports are those classified as a large, medium, or small hub, handle an average of 100,000 flight movements annually (over three years), or handle international operations.
Associate Administrator for Airports, Shannetta R. Griffin, P.E, commented,
“The safe operation of our nation’s airports is paramount during these historic times in aviation as we work to repair and construct necessary airport infrastructure. This rule promotes safety and allows airports to work collaboratively with partners to mitigate risks and avert accidents.”
Airports will have a timeframe of 12–24 months to submit an Implementation Plan (IP), followed by 12 months to submit an Airport Certification Manual (ACM) and 36 months to implement the IP following its approval. SMS plans will need to demonstrate an “explicit, proactive, and engaged process for identifying and quantifying potential hazards and risks and for managing them in a systematically coherent, logical, and reasonable way.”
The rule has been in the making for over 10 years following the FAA’s Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) issued in October 2010 – the agency then issued a Supplemental Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (SNPRM) in July 2016 and a third open comment period in 2021.
Bolstering airport safety
The directive will require US airports to establish robust and comprehensive safety systems as a means of identifying and preventing risks. Some of the examples given by the FAA include airport safety committees, self-inspections, enhanced training, and meticulous recordkeeping.
