Aviation Groups Unite To Address Runway Incursions

Three international aviation industry groups are coordinating to reduce runway incursions worldwide, after years of high-profile close calls put renewed pressure on regulators and airport operators to act. The International Air Transport Association (IATA), the Civil Air Navigation Services Organisation (CANSO), and Airports Council International (ACI)—organizations representing airlines, air navigation service providers, and airports, respectively—have launched a joint initiative.

“This initiative brings airlines, airports, and air navigation service providers together to identify runway risks earlier and take coordinated action,” said Nick Careen, IATA’s senior v-p of operations, safety, and security.

The Joint Runway Safety Initiative centers on three areas: collecting better safety data, including near-collision reports and input from frontline staff; giving more weight to local runway safety teams, where airlines, airports, and air navigation service providers work out local risks together; and sharing lessons learned so effective mitigation can be adopted across airports with similar operating environments. The groups said the effort builds on existing programs, including the Global Action Plan for the Prevention of Runway Incursions (GAPPRI) and the ICAO Global Runway Safety Action Plan, and will draw on tools such as ACI’s Runway Safety Team Implementation Package and IATA’s Runway Incursion Safety Risk Assessment.

“Runway safety depends on clear communication and coordinated decisions across the airport environment,” said Andrea Sack, CANSO’s senior v-p of global operations.

The initiative follows years of heightened attention to runway safety in the U.S. as well as globally. FAA data showed that reported U.S. runway incursions alone have numbered close to 1,700 annually over the past six recorded years, with 1,758 in 2024. The NTSB issued more than a dozen related safety recommendations to the FAA in 2024, including calls for cockpit-based surface alerting technology. In March 2025, a U.S. Department of Transportation Inspector General audit found that the FAA analyzed incursion data on an airport-by-airport basis rather than agency-wide, making it harder to catch risks before they spread.

“Airports sit at the center of this challenge, where every part of the aviation system converges,” said Darryl Dowd, ACI World’s v-p of safety, security, and operations. “Local knowledge and sustained collaboration are what turn safety guidance into real reductions in risk, and ACI is committed to supporting our members as they put these tools to work.”

The initiative also draws on the runway safety checklist (co-developed by ACI and CANSO), a gap-analysis tool for airlines developed under GAPPRI, and IATA’s operational safety audit program, which reviews airline risk assessments and mitigation measures. Together, the three organizations represent a broad swath of the industry: IATA counts more than 370 member airlines accounting for roughly 85% of global air traffic, ACI represents more than 800 members operating over 2,200 airports in more than 160 countries, and CANSO’s members support more than 90% of the world’s air traffic.