Operator Supervision and Certification — Page 25, Lesson 40

I want to walk you through the rules for certifying an air operator. This is the foundation of how commercial aviation is regulated. Commercial Air Transportation — which we abbreviate as CAT — can only be undertaken by an approved air operator. That approval comes in the form of a certificate issued by the Authority of the state. That certificate is called an Air Operator Certificate, or AOC. The AOC is issued by the Authority of the state where the operation has its principal place of business. So, for example, British Airways has its principal place of business in London, so its AOC would be issued by the CAA — the Civil Aviation Authority — of the United Kingdom. Now, let's look at what an applicant for an AOC must satisfy. There are three key requirements. First, the applicant must not already hold an AOC issued by another Authority, unless that situation is specifically approved by the Authorities concerned. So you cannot simply hold two AOCs from different countries without explicit permission from both regulators. Second, the applicant must register the aeroplanes to be used in the operation in the state where the AOC will be issued. However, under certain circumstances, and with the mutual agreement of the Authorities concerned, aeroplanes registered in another state may be used. A good example is SAS — Scandinavian Airlines — whose aeroplanes are registered variously in Norway, Sweden, or Denmark, even though the airline operates across those countries. Third, the applicant must satisfy the Authority of the state issuing the AOC that the operator is able to conduct safe operations. This is the fundamental safety requirement. Beyond those three points, the applicant operator must also satisfy the Authority that the organization of the operation and the management structure of the company are both suitable and properly matched to the scale and scope of the undertaking. Let me unpack that. "Scale" means the size of the operation — how many aircraft, how many flights. "Scope" means the types of operations — for example, scheduled passenger flights, cargo operations, charter flights. The management structure must be appropriate for both. Additionally, the operator is required to show the approving Authority that procedures for the supervision of operations have been defined. So it's not enough to have a good structure on paper — you must have written, defined procedures for how you will supervise your day-to-day operations. Finally, we come to aeroplane maintenance. The operator must ensure that the aeroplanes used in the operation are airworthy and are maintained in accordance with the manufacturer's approved maintenance programme. If the operator elects to... and the excerpt cuts off there, but the key point is that the maintenance programme must be the one approved by the manufacturer, and the operator is responsible for keeping the aircraft airworthy under that programme.