During the 1st Asia Pacific Ministerial Conference on Civil Aviation that was held in Beijing, China from 31 January to 1 February 2018, the ministers responsible for civil aviation in the Asia and Pacific regions agreed to the Beijing Declaration. One of the commitments of the Beijing Declaration was to certify all aerodromes used for international operations by 2020. According to the information presented to 31st Meeting of the Asia/Pacific Air Navigation Planning and Implementation Regional Group (APANPIRG/31, Video Teleconference, 14-16 December 2020), there were 41 aerodromes used for international operations yet to be certified as of December 2020.
The Asia/Pacific Aerodrome Assistance Working Group was created under APANPIRG Aerodrome Operations and Planning Sub-group (AOP/SG) to provide assistance to States in aerodrome certification. The Working Group has developed generic documents to assist States and aerodromes in preparing the necessary procedures, manuals and documents related to certification of aerodromes in compliance with ICAO Annex 14, Volume I – Aerodrome Design and Operations, PANS-Aerodromes (Doc 9981) and Manual on Certification of Aerodromes (Doc 9774). In the meantime, States/Administrations and aerodrome operators are expected to customize the content of the generic documents in accordance with the legislations, regulations and situations applicable to individual States and aerodromes.
The generic documents that received the endorsement from AOP/SG and APANPIRG are now available on ICAO’s APAC Office website. After clicking on AGA these are available:
- Generic Aerodrome Certification Procedure
- Generic Procedures for Accepting Non-compliance in Aerodromes
- Draft Generic Aerodrome Inspector Handbook
- Draft Generic Aerodrome Manual
In addition, the Working Group has developed a survey questionnaire to identify the need for aerodrome assistance among States in the APAC Regions. APAC States are invited to complete and return the questionnaire to the ICAO APAC Office by 15 February 2021.
