New Problems Need New Solutions
Now that Brexit has officially occurred, the ramifications regarding private aviation are becoming evident.
The most obvious effect has been on aircraft usage for charter operators. With Brexit, the UK has left the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA), and as a result it has become more difficult to operate an aircraft for charter on the UK registry inside Europe. A UK registered aircraft can fly a charter flight into Europe and back to the UK, but it cannot fly from one European country to another European country on a charter flight without a series of applications being made for travel approvals to each country it visits. This has affected the ability of UK jets to be chartered within Europe. If you are an owner who relies on charter to offset some of your expenses, you will be feeling this consequence.
Secondly, Brexit is impacting the transaction process. EASA requires an export Certificate of Airworthiness for any aircraft being imported into EASA from outside an EASA member state. As the UK is no longer a member of EASA, this rule applies to UK aircraft planning on registering onto an EASA register. The CAA in the UK is currently completely overloaded due to the high volume of need coming from not only private aviation but commercial airlines as well. This process of obtaining an Export Certificate of Airworthiness is now taking two to three months. If you are importing an aircraft into the UK from Europe, you also need an Export Certificate of Airworthiness from the aircraft’s country, as well as a UK surveyor must physically inspect the aircraft to conduct an airworthiness survey before they issue a UK Certificate of Airworthiness. Unfortunately, there are no ‘work arounds’ to these requirements, and both buyer and seller need to understand that time requirements have increased.
Hopefully as time progresses, the time frame for obtaining an Export Certificate of Airworthiness will decrease and intra-continent travel will become less paperwork intense for UK operators. In the meantime, it is the current state we are living in, and it is affecting many UK jet owners.
This article was first published in our Fly-By Newsletter Issue 18. For market updates and more articles like this, subscribe to our newsletter and receive it directly to your inbox. Subscribe through the contact box below or at this link: Subscribe here
