A GROUP OF LEADING UK charter airlines is campaigning for a tougher line on Eastern-European medium-term wet-lease or charter operations, claiming differences in safety regulatory standards and declaring that the commercial playing field is not level.
The move was sparked when tour operator Independent Aviation recently chartered a Baltic-registered Yakovlev Yak-42 and its crew for holiday operations to Europe. A group of UK carriers, including Air UK Leisure, Britannia Airways, Air 2000, Excalibur Airways, Airtours International and Monarch Airlines, began lobbying the UK Department of Transport (DTp) for a stricter application of existing European Union rules.
The airlines allege that less-demanding national regulatory and certification standards in some countries enable tour operators chartering certain foreign-registered aircraft and crews to provide unfair competition. One company put the leasing rates at between 10 and 15% cheaper than could be offered by UK charters. They say that imprecise guidelines constitute "a loophole that must be closed before the trickle becomes a flood."
European Commission regulations state that operators in member countries should normally lease European Union (EU)-based aircraft, but that they may, for a short term and in exceptional circumstances, lease-in aircraft which is registered outside the Union.
The UK DTp dismisses the objections, saying that all non-EU aircraft chartered from the UK since 1993 have complied with requirements, including EC regulations.
As yet, the percentage of wet-leases by UK operators from outside the EU is small. In the last 12 months, says the DTp it has issued 2,500 external charter permits, covering about 10,000 flights, compared with the 350,000 UK-originating charter flights during the same period. Also during that time, the UK charter airlines leased 27 of their own aircraft to operators outside the Union, while only 14 were leased in.
Bob O'Donnell, managing director of Excalibur, says that there is a difference between wet-leasing an aircraft in an emergency - such as aircraft unserviceablity - and bringing in a non-UK-registered aircraft for an entire season.
The International Air Transport Association (IATA) says that legal international chartering should not be restricted, and warns against using safety as a weapon of commercial complaint. IATA says, however, that it is concerned that the practice of operating flag-of-convenience aircraft may become widespread.
Source: Flight International
