Nazariy Harvat Shchesniy posted in Air Operations
Dear colleagues,
On 7th october 2020, the ToR RMT.0392 was published and one of the topics included there was "operations performed by a group of aircraft operators sharing the same management system or belonging to the same ‘mother company’ (also called ‘group operations’)".
Recently, this concept of "group operations" was addressed in the NPA 2023-01, regarding operational control personnel training across the EU. There is also a guidance document for NAAs, "Guidance for the oversight of group operations".
Is it expected to publish a NPA or some guidance material directed to operators that are willing to benefit from the "group operations" concept, with the future requirements for their management systems, operational procedures, training programmes, etc?
Thank you in advance and best regards,
Nazariy
Dear All,
Since more 25 years, AF, LH, KL and Swissair set up a cooperation to share the results of their audits in matter of De-icing (JAR-OPS : to manage subcontractors for de-cing activities).
Each company got approval of their respective Authority. After other Airlines joined the group, it has been on behalf of AEA (Association of European Airlines) and now IATA as more than 130 companies are part of the pool (DAQCP: De-icing Anti-icing Quality Control Pool).
This kind of organization was copied for Fuel and Water oversight.
The proposed NPA should take into account the accumulated experience of these three groups of Airlines.
Hi Nazariy,
The work on group operations announced in the EASA Terms of Reference of rulemaking task RMT.0392 has not been published in an NPA yet. Work is ongoing.
NPA 2023-01 proposing CBTA requirements for FOO and FD is broader in scope than just group operations; it addresses all FOO and FD functions in Europe, for all CAT operators of aeroplanes, regardless of whether they are operating as a group or not. The intention is to standardise and establish a minimum basis for the FOO training across European CAT operators.
Hi Alain,
Your comment seems to lead in the direction of ground handling services, i.e., water services and de-icing being among them.
For your information, but maybe you already know that, EASA is working on a draft Opinion for a future EU ground handling regulation.
For this Opinion, and also for the previous draft proposals, either published (2022) or sent for focused consultation (2023), EASA has been continually working with representatives of airlines (LH, AF among them), airline associations (IATA among them), ground handling organisations (some of the largest in the world), competent authorities, aerodrome operators and associations, and trade unions.
We have considered in the draft rules the possibility for ground handling services to be provided by the same organisation, either as an external GH service provider or as self-handling. This means they may have the same GH SOPs, the same GH training, the same SMS for GH operations, the same GSE maintenance programme, or make use of industry standards for GH, etc. This possibility is enabled through the proposed rules on ground handling.
For more info, please monitor the EASA website regularly, we plan to publish the Opinion for an EU Ground Handling Regulation under rulemaking task RMT.0728 towards the end of 2023.
Thanks!
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