The European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) has published a new Safety Information Bulletin (SIB) that aims to provide insight into the continuous use of runway stop bars.
SIB 2025-07 provides information on the use of runway stop bars as a means to prevent runway incursions at European Union aerodromes, with the EASA recommending optimal use of the technology to enhance runway safety.
Runway stop bars effectively act as traffic lights for airplanes, and consist of a row of lights embedded in the ground around the entrance to a runway. When the lights display as red, pilots must stop and halt their journey to the runway. When the red light turns off and becomes green, pilots have been cleared to advance, provided the have also been given clearance by air traffic control via radio instruction.
The EASA states that it currently considers runway incursions a priority concern, with recent years seeing an increase number of incidents.
