Proposal to amend Council Regulation (EEC) No 3922/91

1. Title

Proposal for a European Parliament and Council Regulation amending Council Regulation (EEC) No 3922/91 on the harmonisation of technical requirements and administrative procedures in the field of Civil Aviation.

2. Purpose and Intended Effect of the Proposal

2(i) The Issue and Objective

Council Regulation 2408/92 on access for community air carriers to intra community air routes gives community air carriers the right to operate services on any intra route, including entirely domestic routes. It is therefore important that EC airlines operate to common safety standards. The need for such common safety standards is recognised in Article 9 of Council Regulation 2407/92 on the licensing of air carriers.

The purpose of the Regulation is to amend Council Regulation 3922/91 to set common EC standards for commercial air transportation operations by aeroplanes. The common standards to be adopted are those set by the Joint Aviation Authorities in the Joint Aviation Requirements on Commercial Air Transportation (JAR-OPS), with some amendments.

2(ii) Risk Assessment

The proposed Regulation is a harmonisation measure and is not designed to address a specific safety risk.

3. (i) Options

Two options have been identified:

Option 1 To support the Commission proposals.

Option 2 To oppose the Commission proposals and implement JAR-OPS through domestic legislation.

Option 1
The need for Community legislation is this field has already been identified in Council Regulation 3922/91 on the harmonisation of technical and administrative procedures in the field of civil aviation and Council Regulation 2407/92 on licensing of air carriers. In addition, most UK airlines are already operating to the JAR-OPS standards on which the Commission proposal is based and the Civil Aviation Authority intends that all smaller operators should operate to JAR-OPS in due course.

Option 2
Implement JAR-OPS by amending the Air Navigation Order 2000.

3. (ii) Issues of Equity or Fairness

All intra EC routes, including entirely domestic routes, are open to all EC operators. Harmonised operational standards will help ensure that airlines compete on an equal basis.

4. (i) Identify the Benefits

Option 1
The adoption of directly applicable operations standards will ensure all EC operators apply the same high safety standards. UK operators will be able to compete on an equal basis so far as operational standards are concerned. Passengers will also be assured of a high level of safety on all European airlines.

Option 2
Application of JAR-OPS standards to UK operators. However, with national implementation of JAR-OPS there is the danger that it will not be uniformly applied by all Member States.

4(ii) Quantifying and Valuing the Benefits

Option 1
The benefits are not quantifiable.

Option 2
The benefits are not quantifiable, but are likely to be less than option 2 as harmonised standards will not be guaranteed.

5. Compliance Costs for Businesses

5(i) Business Sectors Affected

UK airlines and air taxi operators.

5(ii) Compliance Costs for a "typical" Business

The range of business affected is very large ranging from a very large international airline to a small air taxi operator with one light aircraft. It is very difficult therefore to identify a typical business. An average business would be a small to medium sized airline operating charter flights. The majority of airlines are already operating to JAR-OPS requirements and therefore there will be no compliance cost for an average business.

Impact on Small Businesses

Small businesses are generally air taxi operators, the majority of which have not yet moved onto JAR-OPS requirements. In reality the proposed Regulation does not itself have any financial implications as it simply implements JAR-OPS to which UK is already committed. However, there are a number of areas where EU-OPS/JAR-OPS differs from current UK requirements which may impact on air taxi operators who have not yet been granted a JAR-OPS AOC. The main differences are:

i)Operators are required to establish Minimum Equipment Lists (MEL). While they may do so at present there is no obligation to do so. It is a minor exercise to produce an MEL, especially if it is based on an existing Master Minimum Equipment Lists. The MEL provides derogations from equipment requirements in specified circumstances.

ii)Operators are required to establish a Quality System.

iii)Some operators will need to amend their flight manuals to comply with the performance requirements.

iv)New aeroplanes will be required to carry Automatic Emergency Locator Transmitters(ELT).

v)The requirements for company operations manuals have changed. Rewriting operations manuals is a time consuming task.

There are around 70 air taxi operators 16 of which are already operating to JAR-OPS. The annual cost of moving to JAR-OPS averaged over ten years is estimated to be the region of £2,500 - £20,000 per company. This equates to £160,000 - £1.4 million per annum for the air taxi sector.

7. Other Costs

Option 1
None.

Option 2
Extensive work would be needed to convert the requirements of JAR-OPS into format suitable for inclusion in the Air Navigation Order. The CAA's costs would be considerable and would have to be recovered from the industry.

8. Results of Consultations

No consultation has been undertaken on the proposed Regulation. The standards that it imposes were the subject of full consultation by the Joint Aviation Authorities when the requirements of JAR-OPS were established.

9. Summary and recommendations