Establishing the aerodrome operations personnel competency requirement for the certification of aerodromes, roles and responsibilities of aerodrome operations personnel in terms of safety, efficiency and facilitation for flights, passengers, cargo, and all set of activities required to maintain a valid aerodrome certificate became a directive for the Asia/Pacific (APAC) Region in 2016.
During the 27th Meeting of the Asia/Pacific Air Navigation Planning and Implementation Regional Work Group (APANPIRG/27) endorsed the decision of the Fourth Meeting of the Aerodrome Operations Working Group (AOP/WG/4) to form a small working group comprised of China, Macao China, Japan, Malaysia, Maldives, Singapore and ACI. They were tasked with developing the Asia Pacific Regional Guidance on Aerodrome Operations Personnel Competency Requirement Framework (hereinafter called APAC Regional Guidance) for use as a reference document in the APAC Region.
The APAC Regional Guidance was developed by the Aerodrome Operations Personnel Competency Small Working Group (AOPC SWG) using information derived from Annex 14 Volume I – Aerodrome Design and Operations, Procedures for Air Navigation Services (PANS) — Aerodromes (Doc 9981), Manual on Certification of Aerodromes (Doc 9774), Safety Management Manual (Doc 9859), Airport Services Manual (Doc 9137) and relevant Airport Council International’s (ACI) Handbooks.
This Guidance provides a framework for the assessment of the competency of aerodrome operations and technical personnel and corresponding curriculum of the training in areas such as:
- Runway surface conditions assessment and reporting;
- Aerodrome movement area maintenance;
- Inspection of the movement area;
- Works in progress on the airside;
- Foreign object debris (FOD);
- Wildlife hazard management;
- Apron safety;
- Runway Safety; and
- Aerodrome driver permit scheme and vehicle/equipment safety requirement.
Guidance on competency and training requirements of aerodrome rescue and firefighting personnel and Safety Manager is excluded from the scope, since it is available in Airport Services Manual (Doc 9137) Part 1 – Rescue and Firefighting and Safety Management Manual (Doc 9859) respectively.
The drafting of the APAC Regional Guidance was completed at the Fourth Meeting of the AOPC SWG, which was generously hosted by the Department of Civil Aviation (DCA) and Yangon Aerodrome Company Limited, Myanmar on 10 – 14 February 2020 in Yangon. The Asia Pacific Regional Guidance on Aerodrome Operations Personnel Competency Requirement Framework will be available on the ICAO Asia Pacific Office website after endorsement by the APANPIRG’s Aerodrome Operation Sub-group (AOP/SG) when its Fourth Meeting is expected to take place between 10-13 November 2020.
