Opinion 04/2017

Update of the rules on air operations and continuing airworthiness

The objective of this Opinion is to maintain a high level of safety in air operations by proposing amendments to Regulation (EU) No 965/2012 (hereinafter referred to as the ‘Air OPS Regulation’). The proposed amendments apply to all Parts of the Regulation (Definitions, Part-ARO, Part-ORO, Part-CAT, Part-SPA, Part-NCC, Part-NCO, Part-SPO).

This Opinion includes also the outcome of RMT.0352 on non-commercial operation of aircraft by a holder of an air operator certificate (AOC) proposing to remove the prior approval of the operational procedures used for non-commercial flights when these procedures differ from those employed in a commercial air transport (CAT) operation. It also introduces a regulatory framework to allow the use of aircraft registered on an AOC by other operators for other-than-CAT operations, and as a result, proposes an amendment to Part-M of Regulation (EU) No 1321/2014 (hereinafter referred to as the ‘Continuing Airworthiness Regulation’).

The proposed changes are expected to ensure alignment with ICAO. In addition, through said changes, EASA expects to ensure an efficient and proportionate set of implementing rules (IRs) and acceptable means of compliance (AMC)/guidance material (GM) on air operations and to resolve any inconsistencies identified following the adoption of the Air OPS Regulation, reflecting thus the state of the art and best practices in the fields concerned. The addition to the maintenance programme in Part-M mirrors the changes to the operational requirements brought about by RMT.0352.For information, EASA developed the related draft AMC/GM which are published for information together with this Opinion.