EASA sign standards

ICAO, applied across Europe

The European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) sets the common aerodrome rules for the European Union. For sign design the reference is the Certification Specifications and Guidance Material for Aerodrome Design, CS-ADR-DSN — this page draws on Issue 7 (2025). A certified European aerodrome designs its signs to CS-ADR-DSN, and through it to ICAO Annex 14, which it closely transposes.

CS-ADR-DSN is published in two books: Book 1, the Certification Specifications (CS) — the technical detail — and Book 2, the Guidance Material (GM) that explains how to apply them. (Acceptable Means of Compliance sit in EASA's separate implementing-rule / Easy Access Rules structure, not in CS-ADR-DSN itself.)

Where signs sit in CS-ADR-DSN

Signs are covered in Book 1, Subpart N, Visual aids for navigation — Signs, which mirrors ICAO Annex 14 §5.4 clause for clause:

• CS ADR-DSN.N.775 — General. Frangibility, the rectangular shape, and the rule that red is reserved for mandatory instruction signs, plus the character-height and stroke tables.
• CS ADR-DSN.N.780 — Mandatory instruction signs. A white inscription on a red background — the runway-holding position and no-entry signs — with an optional black outline (10 mm at code 1–2, 20 mm at code 3–4).
• CS ADR-DSN.N.785 — Information signs. A black inscription on a yellow background, except the location sign, which inverts to a yellow inscription on a black background. Direction, destination, runway-exit, runway-vacated and intersection take-off signs sit here.

The subpart also carries the VOR aerodrome check-point sign at CS ADR-DSN.N.790, along with the aircraft stand and road-holding position signs.

Dimensions — and where EASA differs from ICAO

The character legend heights (200 / 300 / 400 mm by runway code) and the stroke widths (32 / 48 / 64 mm) match ICAO exactly. The notable divergence is in the minimum sign-face heights: EASA Issue 7 keeps the older 2× legend values — a 200 mm legend needs a 400 mm face, a 300 mm legend 600 mm, and a 400 mm legend 800 mm — whereas ICAO Annex 14 reduced these to 1.5× (300 / 450 / 600 mm) in Amendment 15. Where a mandatory instruction sign is provided on one side of the taxiway only, its face has a minimum width of 1 460 mm at code 1–2 and 1 940 mm at code 3–4, the same figures as ICAO.

For an operator that must satisfy both frameworks, the face-height difference is the one to watch: a sign face sized to EASA's 2× rule also clears the ICAO minimum, but not the other way round.

Draw to EASA in Wingframe

Wingframe draws airfield guidance signs to the CS-ADR-DSN geometry — the Subpart N family colours, character heights and stroke widths — so the sign you design matches the specification a European aerodrome is certified against. See what Wingframe does.