Gama Aviation's U.S. Division Secures EASA TCO Approval

Gama Aviation’s U.S. aviation division received third-country operator authorization from EASA, becoming one of the first operators to receive the recognition.

Beginning in November, the authorization is slated to become a requirement for commercial operators outside Europe to operate within the European Union countries/territories and the European Free Trade Association.

Introduced by EASA in May 2014, the authorization enables operators to fly under a single safety authorization throughout the EU and other affected European countries. The authorization requires a validation of the company’s air operator certificate to demonstrate compliance with EASA safety regulations. EASA recently indicated that it would not require flight data recorder changes for receipt of the certificate—one of the more significant concerns of business aircraft operators—and also introduced a simplified method to add business aircraft to the certificate.

“The authorization relieves commercial operators from the rather onerous process of applying for access into each of the EU participating states individually, which should speed up the process when applying for permits,” said Jason Oakland, operations supervisor at GAMA Aviation’s U.S. aviation division. “We expect this to greatly benefit our clients, many of whom will make regular inter-city business trips across Europe.”

In addition to receipt of third-country operator authorization, GAMA has been working with smaller operators and owners on compliance with EASA’s new Part-NCC (non-commercial complex), which, beginning in August, will require many non-commercial business aircraft operators to comply with a regulatory framework similar to that of commercial operators.

GAMA noted that many operators are unprepared for those new requirements, including the need for operations and management systems in place. “We feel there is still a great deal of uncertainty amongst the industry regarding the new regulations with some confusion over how they are going to be applied,” said Duncan Daines, chief marketing officer at Gama Aviation. “We have the experience and depth of resource within our team to provide advice to smaller operators and aircraft owners which will ensure they are fully compliant with the new requirements and won’t see their operations grounded come August.”