Aircraft Registries Line Up at ABACE

During a panel session at the ABACE 2018 show in Shanghai on Wednesday, April 18, representatives from six aircraft registries were gathered–Aruba, Bermuda, Guernsey (2-Reg), the Isle of Man, the Cayman Islands and San Marino.

Richard Smith, Cayman Islands director general of civil aviation, said that such small (mainly offshore) registries were proving popular with business aircraft owners and operators because they tend to be "more efficiently run than the legacy registries" and can focus on the private and corporate aviation niche.

Simon Williams, director general civil aviation of the Isle of Man, who runs the registry started there in 2007, commented, "We recognize that business aviation is 24/7, 365 days a year and that it spans the globe. If business aviation is to operate efficiently then it puts quite an onus on [the state of registration]."

Thomas Dunstan, director general of the Bermuda Civil Aviation Authority, said, "We're convenient registers, not registers of convenience."