GM5 Safety performance indicators (SPIs) for the monitoring of separation minima infringements (SMIs) and runway incursions (RIs)

Regulation (EU) 2019/317

The purpose of this GM is to explain the safety performance indicators, the data requirements and the process by which the number of SMIs and RIs will be measured.

A.      RUNWAY INCURSION (RI)

The definition of RI is provided in Article 2(19) of Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2019/317, which is the same definition as that adopted by ICAO. It is repeated here for ease of reference:

‘“runway incursion” means any occurrence at an aerodrome involving the incorrect presence of an aircraft, vehicle or person on the protected area of a surface designated for the landing and take-off of aircraft;’

In order to determine whether an event is a runway incursion or not, the following explanation is provided:

—          the ‘incorrect presence’ is defined as the unsafe, unauthorised or undesirable presence, or movement of an aircraft, vehicle, or pedestrian, irrespective of the main contributor (e.g. ATC, pilot, driver, technical system).

The ‘protected area of a surface designated for the landing and take-off of aircraft’ is defined as a minimum the physical surface of the runway and the strip distance out to the holding point appropriate to the visibility conditions at the time of the event.

The RIs included in the indicator are those that occur at the airports included by the Member States in their performance plans, where the airports to be considered are specified. Article 1(3) of Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2019/317 establishes the minimum list of airports as those airports in the territory of the Member State with 80 000 IFR movements or more. Additional airports may be included in the performance plans according to Article 1(4) of the same Regulation.

B.      SEPARATION MINIMA INFRINGEMENT (SMI)

SMI is defined in Article 2(20) of Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2019/317, which is in line with industry practices. It is repeated here for ease of reference:

 ‘“separation minima infringement” means a situation in which prescribed separation minima were not maintained between aircraft;’

It is important to note that both horizontal and vertical separation needs to be lost to trigger an SMI. It is understood that the infringement of the separation standard is between aircraft that are flying under the ATC services of the responsible ANSP.

The SMI-related indicator covers aircraft in en-route, terminal and airport control zones. When the infringement occurs around an airport, only those occurrences attributed to the terminal navigation services around airports that are included in the Member States’ performance plans are included. Article 1(3) of Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2019/317 establishes the minimum list of airports as those airports in the territory of the Member State with 80 000 IFR movements or more. Additional airports may be included in the performance plans according to Article 1(4) of the same Regulation.

C.      LOCAL LEVEL versus UNION-WIDE LEVEL

SPIs for the monitoring of SMIs and RIs at local level are established in Annex I, Section 2, point 1.2, paragraphs (a), (b), (c) and (d) of Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2019/317. They include indicators at Member State, ANSP and airport level. They are reproduced here for ease of reference:

‘(a)  The rate of runway incursions at airports located in a Member State, calculated as the total number of runway incursions with a safety impact that occurred at those airports divided by the total number of IFR and VFR movements at those airports.’

The indicator set out in paragraph (a) is aggregated at airport level. It includes all RIs that have been reported under Regulation (EU) No 376/2014, independently of the main contributor, i.e. individuals, air operators, aerodromes, or ANSPs. As such, this indicator aims to capture trends in RIs at Member State level.

‘(c)  The rate of runway incursions at an airport calculated as the total number of runway incursions with any contribution from air traffic services or CNS services with a safety impact that occurred at that airport divided by the total number of IFR and VFR movements at that airport.’

The indicator set out in paragraph (c) is aggregated at airport level. It includes only a subset of RIs that have been reported under Regulation (EU) No 376/2014 for which the ANSP was identified as having a contribution, either direct or indirect. This indicator aims to capture trends in RIs under the influence of the provider of ATC at the airport concerned.

‘(b)  The rate of separation minima infringements within the airspace of all controlling air traffic services units in a Member State, calculated as the total number of separation minima infringements with a safety impact that occurred in that airspace divided by the total number of controlled flight hours within that airspace.’

The indicator set out in paragraph (b) is aggregated at Member State level. It includes all SMIs that have been reported under Regulation (EU) No 376/2014, independently of the main contributor, i.e. air operators or ANSPs. This indicator captures all SMIs that occur within the geographical boundary of a Member State, irrespective of which ANSP is providing the ATC service.

‘(d)  The rate of separation minima infringements within the airspace where the air navigation service provider provides air traffic services, calculated as the total number of separation minima infringements with any contribution from air traffic services, or CNS services with a safety impact divided by the total number of controlled flight hours within that airspace.’

The indicator set out in paragraph (d) is aggregated at ANSP level. It includes only a subset of SMIs that have been reported under Regulation (EU) No 376/2014, for which the ANSP was identified as having a contribution, either direct or indirect. This indicator captures all SMIs that occur in the area where an ANSP provides its ATC services.

SPIs for the monitoring of SMIs and RIs at Union level are established in Annex I, Section 1, point 1.2, paragraphs (a) and (b). These indicators are determined as the local-level indicators defined in point 1.2(a) and 1.2(b) of Section 2 and differ from them only in the level of aggregation.

D.      SAFETY IMPACT

It is anticipated that Member States will classify occurrences in terms of safety risk according to the common European Risk Classification Scheme (ERCS) that the European Commission intends to adopt by means of implementing acts, as prescribed in Article 7 of Regulation (EU) No 376/2014.

ERCS considers four levels of risk associated to occurrences, namely: ‘not safety related’, ‘low’, ‘medium’, or ‘high’. Each level is coloured in the ERCS risk matrix: green for ‘not safety related’ and ‘low’ risk occurrences, amber for ‘medium’ risk occurrences, and red for ‘high’ risk occurrences. The occurrences with safety impact considered in the computation of indicators for monitoring RIs and SMIs at Member State level refer to those that have been classified as ‘medium’ (amber) and ‘high’ (red) ERCS risk grade of the ERCS matrix.

It is anticipated that ANSPs will classify occurrences in terms of severity according to the RAT methodology. This methodology classifies the severity of occurrences into five categories: ‘serious incident’ (A), ‘major incident’ (B), ‘significant’ (C), ‘not determined’ (D), and ‘no safety effect’ (E).
The occurrences with safety impact considered in the computation of indicators for monitoring RIs and SMIs at ANSP level refer to those classified as ATM ground severity A, B, and C.

The application of severity classification using the RAT methodology was formally introduced within the ATM performance scheme Regulations for RPs 1 and 2. At the end of RP2, the target for the application of severity classification using the RAT methodology by ANSPs was set to 100 % application for all reported SMIs and RIs with ATM ground severity A, B, and C, and it is anticipated that ANSPs will continue to apply it to these occurrences. In order to calculate the correct score and perform a proper analysis of the occurrence, it is good practice to determine both the ATM overall and ATM ground scores.

E.       ATS/CNS CONTRIBUTION

There are two indicators, set up in points 1.2(c) and 1.2(d) of Section 2, that consider only those occurrences where, during the occurrence investigation, the ATS or CNS services contributed to the occurrence. This contribution is considered to be any causal or aggravating factor from the ATS or CNS ground services to a situation, in the air or on the ground, where an aircraft/vehicle/person has lost the required safety margins.

In contrast, cases where there is no ‘ATS or CNS services contribution’ are: when the investigation shows evidence that there was no kind of causation/contribution/aggravation from the ATS or CNS ground services; and there was at no point in time any chance for the ATS or CNS ground services to detect and resolve a sudden/potential conflict in advance of a loss of required safety margins.

F.       EXPOSURE DATA

The indicators for monitoring SMIs and RIs are normalised using the following exposure data:

For RIs, the number of IFR and VFR movements at the airport is calculated with the sum of take-offs and landings performed under both IFR and VFR at that airport. Complete exposure data cannot be obtained from the Network Manager, which includes mainly IFR movements but a small portion of VFR flights. The Network Manager figures need to be complemented by the VFR traffic from the ANSP’s tower and airports.

For SMIs, the number of controlled flight hours is measured as hours of flight under IFR that are under the separation control of ANSPs. The Network Manager is best placed to consistently report flight hours of ANSPs across Europe. As some ANSPs provide cross-border services, the measure of flight hours is based on two different measurements depending on the indicator. The indicator in paragraph (b) of Section 1 of Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) No 2019/317 is calculated using flight hours within the Member States’ boundaries, while the indicator in paragraph (d) of Section 1 of the same Regulation is calculated using flight hours controlled by a given ANSP.

G.      CODING PRACTICE IN ECCAIRS AND DATA COLLECTION PROCESS

All ATM-related safety occurrences are required to be reported to the European Central Repository (ECR) under Regulation (EU) No 376/2014. It is anticipated that the common and specific mandatory data fields applicable to the occurrence will have been completed, in accordance with Annex I to that Regulation. As a minimum, the specific mandatory data fields should include those for aircraft-, air navigation services- and aerodrome-related occurrences.

For the purposes of reporting under the performance scheme Regulation and for the facilitation of the computation of performance monitoring indicators, the following fields need to be coded for each occurrence record to provide the necessary information to allow proper computation of the indicators. The below fields are intended to be used for data extraction from the ECR and computation of the monitoring indicators for monitoring SMIs and RIs.

Within ECCAIRS 5, the following additional fields need to be completed, as appropriate:

EASA will retrieve the data available in the ECR in order to calculate preliminary figures for the SPIs for monitoring SMIs and RIs. Member States will receive an analysis report sent by EASA based on the data submitted and coded by them, containing the number of applicable occurrences in their territory in the previous year (January–December). Observations related to the data extraction may be included. Member States will review this analysis report, confirm the occurrence numbers presented in the report, and respond to the observations.