Story ID: 369
EASA Updates Third Country Operator Rules
By: Gordon Gilbert
Caption: EASA cleans, clarifiess, removes inconsistencies, and improves coherence of third-country-operator requirements.
Word Count: 283
EASA has updated its Third Country Operator (TCO) requirements, which apply to non-European-registered aircraft operators conducting commercial flights into, within, and out of any European Union nation. Such flights include unscheduled business aircraft charters. Private flights remain exempt and TCO authorization is not required for operators overflying EU nations without intending to land.
The agency's revisions, effective with TCO authorization applications submitted after mid-April, cover three broad areas: technical requirements and administrative procedures; acceptable means of compliance and guidance material; and TCO authorization procedures. EASA emphasized that the updates are intended to enhance understanding of the current rules, not to fundamentally change them.
In addition to “cleaning, clarifying, and removing inconsistencies, and improving coherence,” EASA said, the revisions are being made to foster the risk-based approach to help the agency develop an improved level of confidence in the processing, assessment, compliance, and suspension of authorizations awarded to third-country operators.
Under the heading of “new or amended text,” EASA clarified when a TCO authorization is required other than for flights to “embark or disembark passengers or cargo for remuneration.” Operations do not require TCO authorization in emergency or other situations that force an unplanned landing or a diversion to a flight-planned designated alternate airport. There are also provisions to allow for one-off or short-notice unscheduled flights by commercial air transport operators that do not hold a TCO authorization.