Dear Member,

Further to my recent message advising members to be sure that all operators booked to conduct flights within the EU hold valid, current and relevant AOC and EASA authorisation, please see below.

I have now received an email from the CAA regarding a recent incident involving a Yak 42D, which appears to be actively marketed for charter by Five Airways and the CAA has given their permission for me to share the following message with the membership of BACA:-

“It is not illegal for a non-EU aircraft to operate in the EU with the relevant permission.  In this instance, this aircraft (UR-COD) is operated by the Ukrainian carrier Black Sea Airlines.  The company operated illegally, without a Foreign Carrier Permit, into the UK on 26 July and were met by a CAA SAFA team. After confirming that the aircraft was safe to depart, the SAFA team served a Direction on the crew instructing them to do so.  That Direction required the aircraft to immediately leave the United Kingdom and it is currently banned from re-entering UK territory.  We informed EASA and the Commission of our actions who were supportive.

This is not to say that the aircraft is permanently barred from the UK, if they can persuade us that they can operate safely and have the relevant processes in place to manage an operation then we will reconsider.  However, for the present that remains our decision. “

As mentioned in my previous email, it is important to uphold the highest standards of market conduct when selecting operators to fly our clients on charter.  It is vital to be sure that any operator conducting flights within the EU is properly authorised with a valid, current and relevant AOC and EASA authorisation.

We strongly encourage all members to report any suspected illegal flights to us and to the CAA or other relevant civil authority immediately and prior to any such flight being operated.

Our advice to members is to take just a moment to ensure that every operator is genuinely authorised to conduct any flight for which you seek to charter their aircraft.  Do not simply take assurances from those operators at face value.  In that way, both legitimate brokers and operators can help to maintain and raise standards of market conduct.

Kind regards
Richard

Richard Mumford
Chairman