Newly-published European Commission legislation set to come into force this month lays down regulations for ground-handling operations for the first time.
The safety regulations – compliance with which must be achieved in three years’ time – bring the sectors under the regulatory framework of the European Union Aviation Safety Agency.
EASA says ground-handling is vital to safe flight, but the sector has been largely self-regulating through collections of bilateral arrangements with operators, placing safety responsibility on carriers.
The new rules will apply from March 2028, covering such aspects of training and management for all ramp activities during aircraft preparation – including passenger and cargo loading and offloading, co-ordination of turnaround, de-icing, refuelling, pushback and towing.
They comprise two sections: requirements for organisations and requirements for agencies tasked with safety oversight.
There are also updates to current regulations governing air operations, airports and cybersecurity.
“With the new authority oversight, ground-handlers become formally responsible for the safe provision of services, relieving air operators of this obligation,” says EASA flight standards director Jesper Rasmussen.
He says EASA will support the industry in making necessary changes during the transition and “build further on the mature standards” which are used within the sector.
EASA has developed the new ground-handling regulations, supported by handling services, aircraft and airport operators, and a personnel federation.
“The aim was to ensure that the regulations are proportionate, address the identified needs of the industry, and maintain business continuity for organisations through a smooth transfer from the current regime,” it states.
EASA says this transition will include ensuring “clear delineation” of responsibility between the various parties. It adds that it will adopt a performance-based approach, keeping “bureaucratic hurdles” as “low as possible” – avoiding the previous situation of duplication of audits, which could reach as many as 600 in a year for a single handler operating at 100 stations.
“EASA and the competent authorities will be working together to establish an effective co-operative oversight,” it states.
“This entails building inspector competency and experience, as well as developing harmonised training for inspectors. A further requirement is to build safety data models and datasets to help exercise risk-based oversight in this domain.”
