28 July 2026 (Geneva, Switzerland; Montréal, Canada) – The International Air Transport Association (IATA), the Civil Air Navigation Services Organisation (CANSO) and Airports Council International (ACI) have launched a joint initiative to reduce the risk of runway incursions.
A runway incursion is defined as an aircraft, vehicle or person being incorrectly present on a runway or within its protected area. Incursions are documented in IATA’s Annual Safety Reports, and several recent incursions have been fatal. Preventing incursions requires close coordination between airlines, airports, air navigation service providers, regulators and frontline personnel.
The Joint Runway Safety Initiative focuses on three areas:
• Improving safety reporting and data capture, including incidents, near misses, precursor events and observations from frontline personnel.
• Strengthening Local Runway Safety Teams as the main forum for airlines, airports, air navigation service providers and other stakeholders to assess local risks and agree on coordinated action.
• Sharing progress and lessons learned so that effective practices can be adopted more widely by airports and organisations with similar operating environments. (....)