The FAA is expected to publish a final rule applying SMS requirements to airports in tomorrow’s Federal Register.
The new rule will apply SMS to certificated airports that meet at least one of the following triggering criteria:
- The airport is classified as a large, medium, or small hub based on passenger data extracted from the FAA Air Carrier Activity Information System;
- The airport has a 3-year rolling average of 100,000 or more total annual operations, meaning the sum of all arrivals and departures; or
- The airport is classified as a port of entry, designated international airport, landing rights airport, or user fee airport (typically, this means that the airport serves any international operations other than general aviation).
The rule is based on a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) titled “Safety Management System for Certificated Airports” (75 FR 62008) that the FAA Published on October 7, 2010 in the Federal Register.
A prepublication draft of the Final Rule can be found online, today.