The FAA yesterday issued a supplemental notice of proposed rulemaking pertaining to the adoption of safety management systems (SMS) by airports. Based on comments the agency has received, it has amended its originally proposed rule submitted in October 2010, which would have required all Part 139 airports in the U.S., numbering more than 500, to implement a SMS.
Under the new proposal, which nearly halves that number, the agency will require an SMS at any airport that is classified as a small, medium or large hub airport in the National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems (NPIAS), and identified by the U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency as a port of entry, designated international airport, landing rights airport or user fee airport, or is identified as having more than 100,000 total annual operations. For those qualifying airports, the agency is also proposing to extend the SMS implementation period from 18 to 24 months.
The 60-day comment period on the new rule will end on September 12.