Ramp Safety

An airport ramp is a community of relationships, and its success relies on how well these relationships are working.

In April 2022, IATA highlighted the improvement of collaboration between stakeholders as one of three priorities for the ground handling industry, the others being the harmonisation of global standards to improve ramp safety and developing talent.

The aviation industry has been slow to acknowledge the risks associated with ground operations. While most occurrences on airport aprons and taxiways do not have consequences in terms of loss of life, they are often associated with aircraft damage, delays to passengers and avoidable financial costs to industry.

Ramp accidents are considered one of the major problems in the industry and it has been estimated that more than $5 billion a year worldwide is lost by ramp damage, typically caused by collisions between ground service vehicles and parked aircraft.