Awarded First Business Aviation EASA Air Operator Certificate

GAMA is commending EASA and the Luxaviation Group for setting a new milestone in European cooperation and aviation safety oversight. Luxaviation Group has become the first Business Aviation operator to obtain an EASA Air Operator Certificate (AOC). This new European AOC is the first step towards obtaining EASA regulatory supervision for all of Luxaviation’s European group businesses.

The EASA Basic Regulation 2018/1139, which was adopted in 2018, established the possibility for operators, as well as maintenance or training organisations, that operate in multiple EU Member States to request that EASA acts as its competent authority, versus being overseen by the national authority in each individual country.

“Today we are particularly proud to take a part in this historical moment for European aviation and to start operating under one single EU AOC, which we are confident will be applied to all European operating entities of the group. The size of our fleet and the experience across most European countries will give valuable insight to develop this programme even further. With an ever-innovative spirit, we aim to be a trailblazer for the entire European aviation industry. Our Portuguese AOC is just the beginning – others will follow. At a time where European solidarity is gaining even more importance, this step to unify our skies under one European authority is key for further success. Luxaviation Group’s representative in GAMA, David Van Den Langenbergh, and the GAMA team have done a great job engaging with the European Parliament, the European Commission and Member States since 2015 to reach this goal. This is a great achievement,” said Patrick Hansen, Chief Executive Officer for Luxaviation Group.

“We are grateful for EASA’s support and leadership throughout this process. EASA showed that they are passionate about aviation and are willing to innovate. Ever since preliminary discussions started with the European Commission and the European Parliament about this regulation, we were supported by GAMA’s European policy experts. GAMA has helped us to realize that we can, and should, actively engage with regulators and I strongly recommend the whole General Aviation and Business Aviation community to do so as well,“ said David Van Den Langenbergh, Chair of GAMA’s European Leaders Steering Committee and President of Aviation Services for Luxaviation Group.

“It is a monumental accomplishment for EASA to grant the first Business Aviation EASA AOC to Luxaviation Group. This would have never been possible without the strong commitment from EASA’s Executive Director, Patrick Ky, to work with Luxaviation Group as a test case early on, after the Basic Regulation was adopted. It took a tremendous amount of work to both secure this regulatory change and see it through to implementation. GAMA is proud to be able to help in achieving this milestone, which will in turn open the door for more companies to follow suit. Ultimately, this will provide more consistency in regulatory interpretation and oversight and create more opportunities for European General and Business Aviation to thrive,” said Pete Bunce, GAMA President and CEO.

FMI: www.luxaviation.com, www.gama.aero