In response to the on-going Covid-19 pandemic and the associated challenges facing the aviation industry, ICAO has delayed the applicability date by one year of a new global reporting format (GRF) for assessing runway conditions and runway condition reports (RCRs) to pilots.

Under an EASA notice of proposed rulemaking in 2018, the GRF was scheduled to go into effect on Nov. 5, 2020. The agencies, in partnership with key international organizations, will continue to provide support to member states and stakeholders as they emerge from the current crisis and revise their implementation plans. In particular, training resources will be enhanced and awareness-raising activities will be relaunched.

The new RCRs would correlate standardized data assessed on the ground with aircraft performance data provided by the manufacturer to enable the flight crew to more accurately calculate their takeoff or landing performance. This matching of standardized observation and reporting with standardized aircraft data is the key advantage of the new global reporting format.