The objective of this Decision is to maintain a high and uniform level of safety in terms of aerodrome design.

This Decision amends the certification specifications (CS) and guidance material (GM) for the aerodrome design (CS-ADR-DSN) and transposes Amendment 15 to ICAO Annex 14, on Aerodrome Design and Operations. The changes are of non-controversial nature with a positive safety benefit and are not expected to induce significant efforts on the industry and national competent authorities.

The main changes concern:

• the standardised naming of taxiways;
• location of holding bays, runway-holding positions, intermediate holding positions and road-holding positions;
• runway guard lights, no-entry bar, information signs.

These changes aim to improve the navigation and efficiency on the aerodrome surface for both flight crews and vehicle operators, thus reducing the risk of runway incursions and taxiway confusion. The changes will reduce fuel burn while taxiing thus increasing environmental performance.

Additionally, this Decision introduces a new set of certification specifications for the design of aircraft arresting systems to ensure the harmonisation of the design within the Member States, the same level of safety, and, in addition, to facilitate the certification process in accordance with Commission Regulation (EU) No 139/2014.

Furthermore, it also clarifies that the provision of runway shoulders for 60 m-wide runways is not necessary for certain wide-body aircraft. This will avoid significant costs for the aerodrome operators and administrative burden for both the aerodrome operators and national competent authorities.

Finally, this Decision includes some changes of editorial nature to improve the overall quality of the aerodrome certification specifications. These changes improve consistency and are not expected to incur any impact on the stakeholders.

The objective of this Decision is to maintain a high level of safety for the certification of aircraft that conduct all-weather operations (AWOs) through the provision of improved certification specifications that will enable efficiency gains based on the latest technological advancements. In addition, it is possible that there could be an overall improvement in safety by reducing the number of go-arounds due to the increased likelihood of aircraft being able to land in low-visibility runway conditions.

This Decision amends CS-AWO Issue 1 that was issued in 2003, and provides significant updates for the certification of the following:

• head-up displays (HUDs) and landing systems;
• enhanced flight vision systems (EFVSs);
• synthetic vision guidance systems (SVGSs);
• combined vision systems (CVSs);
• special authorisation Category I  (SA CAT I) landings.

In addition, this Decision also updates the certification specifications related to Category II and Category III landings and automatic landing systems (ALSs).

There are distinct economic advantages that can be gained from the ability of an aircraft to operate and land in adverse weather conditions. This significant amendment of CS-AWO enables applicants to easily determine what is required and also provides a more performance-based approach to the certification of these systems.