Airport signs

Airside and landside

Airport signs fall into two worlds. Airside is the open-air part of the airport that holds the aircraft — the runways, taxiways and aprons — with higher security requirements than the areas open to travellers. Landside is inside the terminal buildings, where wayfinding signs help passengers reach gates, restaurants and facilities.

The reference here concentrates on the airside signs, because those are the regulated signs that international and national bodies set design standards for — and the ones Wingframe draws.

Airside signs

The airside category includes:

• Airfield guidance signs — the taxiway signs that guide pilots around the movement area, split into mandatory instruction (red) and information (yellow and black) signs.
• Stand/gate identification boards — the signs that identify aircraft parking stands and gates on the apron.
• Runway distance remaining signs — FAA boards showing how much runway is left.
• VOR checkpoint signs, arresting-gear markers, and access-restriction, warning and other security signs.

These signs live in a demanding environment — wind, rain, sun and jet blast — so they are built from durable materials, yet made frangible so that they break away cleanly if struck by an aircraft. When illuminated, they also fall under the heading of airfield lighting. Nearly every aspect — colours, lettering, sizes, placement — is regulated, and most airfield guidance signs look alike worldwide, with the main deviations found in North American (FAA) practice.

Stand and gate identification boards

Stand number identification boards belong to the apron rather than to the taxiway guidance system. They identify individual aircraft parking stands and gates so a flight crew and the ground handlers agree on where the aircraft is to park. They are covered here, under airport signs, rather than with the airfield guidance signs.

Regulations

The primary regulator for airside signs is ICAO — the International Civil Aviation Organization, a specialised agency of the United Nations. The governing document is Annex 14, Aerodromes, Volume I — Aerodrome Design and Operations. Beyond ICAO, regional and national authorities publish their own standards — EASA's CS-ADR-DSN, the FAA's advisory circulars, Transport Canada's TP 312, the UK CAA's CAP 168 and more. The dedicated regulations section of this reference is being written up.

Landside signs

Landside signs sit inside the terminal, serving travellers rather than pilots. They include wayfinding and information signs, facility and gate signs, and access-restriction, warning and other security signs. They are not regulated to the same aerodrome-design standards as the airside signs, and are outside the scope of the sign design Wingframe covers.

Draw airside signs in Wingframe

Wingframe draws airside signs to ICAO, EASA and FAA geometry, ready to share with airports, consultants and manufacturers. See what Wingframe does.