Proposed action by the UK Civil Aviation Authority to publish full contact details for all holders of an air operators' certificate (AOC) as soon 29 June may be critical for aircraft owners who choose business aviation for privacy and security reasons.
European Business Aviation Association chief executive Brian Humphries says he is talking to the CAA about the possible repercussions for some business aircraft operators of what is effectively a new interpretation of existing regulations.
The UK-based fleet of business and corporate aviation aircraft is the largest in Europe, according to the EBAA, so this potentially affects many owners and operators.
At present, says the CAA, Section 23 of the Civil Aviation Act "prohibits the authority from publishing information relating to a particular individual or company which has been supplied to the agency pursuant to the Air Navigation Order.
The postal address, email address and telephone number supplied by an applicant for an AOC would appear to be information subject to that prohibition".
But now the CAA has published a flight operations division communication announcing it wants to publish the detailed contact information unless the AOC holder can convince it that there is a good reason not to.
It proposes to use a clause in the Act that allows it to publish subject to "offering the person an opportunity to make representations", but this would still allow the CAA to reject the objection and publish the details anyway if it disagreed with the AOC holder's reasons.
If the CAA is convinced by the objection, the contact details would be listed as "details withheld at the request of the AOC holder".
Managing director of charter operator London Executive Aviation (LEA), George Galanopoulos, says this will not affect his clients because LEA is happy for all its details to be listed as an AOC holder.
Some of its fleet of 15 aircraft are operated by LEA on behalf of owners, but Galanopoulos says that the personal details of owners or users of charter services would not be affected by the CAA's proposal, so they would retain their confidentiality.
The CAA says interested parties have 30 days in which to comment on the proposed changes.
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Source: Flight International
