Safety is the overriding requirement in aviation. Standardisation is one of the means to achieve it. In the case of airports, it is standardisation of facilities, ground equipment and procedures. The only justification for differences is to match the types of aircraft that may be expected to use the airports. It is, of course, necessary for the standards to be appropriate and to be agreed by the aviation community.
Although attempts to reach agreement had been made much earlier, the need to agree common requirements for airports used by air carriers became more pressing after World War II. In compliance with Article 37 of the Convention on International Civil Aviation in Chicago in1944, the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) adopted Annex 14-Aerodromes to the Convention on 29th May 1951. Annex 14 provides the required set of standards for aerodromes used by international air transport. The Annex contains information for planning, designing and operating airports. With the developments in aircraft technology described in the previous section, together with the consequent changes to airports, Annex 14 has been regularly amended and supplemented. Particular Amendments were in the majority of cases approved at sessions of the respective specialist ICAO conference on Aerodromes, Air Routes and Ground Aids (AGA). Each of the ICAO member states may propose a supplement or amendment to an Annex through its aviation authority. The proposal is usually assessed or further examined by a panel of experts. Each of the member states may nominate its experts to the panel. Within ICAO there are panels that have been dedicated to several specific issues for a long time, e.g.: