International Civil Aviation Organisation

The International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) was established under the Chicago Convention in 1944. Through the participation of contracting states, ICAO develops Standards and Recommended Practices (SARPs) that cover all aspects of aviation, including safety. SARPs provide the foundation of all safety regulatory regimes at a global scale. The SARPs are laid down in the 19 Annexes to the Convention.

Gibraltar is a British Overseas Territory and, through the United Kingdom's ratification, is a party to the Chicago Convention on International Civil Aviation ('the Convention') which is the international convention governing arrangements for civil aviation. By signing the Convention, a State agrees that adopted standards will be implemented in its own territories or, if this is impractical, any difference will be notified to ICAO for publication to the community at large. Gibraltar is not a contracting State to ICAO; however the United Kingdom is; it is by the United Kingdom's ratification that Gibraltar is required to comply with the SARPs.

In accordance with the requirements set out in Annex 19 to the Chicago Convention, a State Safety Programme (SSP) for Gibraltar has been developed.  A SSP is defined as "An integrated set of regulations and activities aimed at improving safety".  The Gibraltar SSP follows closely the UK SSP and is considered to be appropriate to the size and complexity of civil aviation activity in Gibraltar.  The link to the Gibraltar SSP is here: Gibraltar State Safety Programme

The ICAO continues to develop its safety policies and plans and has, in the past few years produced a  Global Aviation Safety Plan (GASP), which presents the global strategy for the continuous improvement of aviation safety. The purpose of the GASP is to continually improve safety worldwide by introducing initiatives that reduce fatalities, and the risk of fatalities, by guiding the development of a global harmonized aviation safety strategy.  The document highlights a number of Organisational and Operational Goals that it wishes all States to adopt and provides a framework upon which regional and national aviation safety plans can be developed and implemented.

A Gibraltar National Aviation Safety Plan (NASP) has been developed to align with these global safety objectives, but considering the aviation environment specific to Gibraltar and the management of the most significant risks for Gibraltar, both organisational and operational as highlighted here.

Organisational Goals

• Provide safety information to ICAO by updating all relevant documents and records
• Strengthen DCA safety oversight capability
• Implement an effective SSP
• Improve change management processes between airfield organisations

Operational Goals

• Reduce number of runway incursions
• Mitigate against runway excursions
• Continue and improve management of bird strike risk
• Continue and improve management of risk of Controlled Flight into Terrain

The plan is intended to run for three years, from 2025 to 2028.

Gibraltar National Aviation Safety Plan