Commercial Air Transport (CAT)

Commercial air transport with an aeroplane or a helicopter can only be performed under an Air Operator Certificate (AOC) and an operating license. This AOC is issued by the DAC according to Regulation (EU) No 965/2012 as amended and the operating license is also issued by the DAC under the Regulation (EC) No 1008/2008 as amended.

Some processes related to Commercial Air Transport and AOC are described below.

If you have any question related to Commercial Air Transport, feel free to contact the Operations Department.

Initial issue of an AOC

The process for an initial issue of an AOC is composed of the following phases:

1.      Pre-application phase

2.      Application phase

3.      Documentation evaluation phase

4.      Demonstration and audit phase

5.      Certification phase

The first contact between the applicant and the DAC is initiated in the pre-application phase with a  preliminary meeting organized on request from the applicant. This request can be made by e-mail to civilair@av.etat.lu.

After this pre-application phase, the application phase can be initiated. For this step, the following required documentation/information shall be sent to the Operations Department.

The official name and business name, address, and mailing address of the applicant;

A description of the proposed operation, including the type(s), and number of aircraft to be operated;

A description of the management system, including organisational structure;

• the name of the accountable manager;
• the Operations Manual Parts A, B, C, D required by ORO.MLR.100 with the relevant Application Forms for Operations Document Approval.
• the Minimum List of Equipment (MEL) for each type of aircraft, established in compliance with Commission Regulation (EU) No 965/2012, the approved EASA MMEL with the relevant Application Forms for Operations Document Approval.
• the Management System Manual, established in compliance with ORO.GEN.200 with the relevant Application Forms for Operations Document Approval.
• a statement that all the documentation sent to the competent authority have been verified by the applicant and found in compliance with the applicable requirements.
• an Application Form for the Amendment of an AOC Operations Specifications Page, for each aircraft, listing the requested operational specifications according Part-SPA.
• the names of the nominated persons required by ORO.AOC.135(a) together with their qualification and experience, considering AMCs and GMs to ORO.AOC.135(a).
• the Qualification Certificates of the simulators and the related training programmes in order to be approved according ORO.FC.145 (c).

Changes requiring prior approval

Any change affecting:

• the scope of the certificate or the operations specifications of an operator; or
• any of the elements of the operator’s management system,

require prior approval by the DAC.

The application shall be submitted before any such change takes place, in order to enable the DAC to determine continued compliance with Regulation (EU) 2018/1139 and its Implementing Rules and to amend, if necessary, the operator certificate and related terms of approval attached to it.

The changes requiring prior approval are listed in GM3 ORO.GEN.130(b).

Operations Specification variation

The application for the amendment of an AOC’s Operations Specifications page shall be performed according the following form.

The following changes are included in this process:

• New aircraft (same type, new variant or new type)
• Change of type of operations
• Change of area of operations
• Change of aircraft home base
• Change affecting the specific approvals such as:
  • Dangerous goods approval
  • Low Visibility approval
  • RVSM approval
  • ETOPS approval
  • Complex PBN approval
  • MNPS / PBCS approval
  • SET-IMC approval
  • NVIS approval
  • HHO approval
  • HEMS approval
  • HOFO approval
  • Cabin crew training approval
  • EFB type B applications approval
  • Steep approach approval
  • Short landing approval
  • Increased bank angle approval
  • Reduced required landing distance approval, ...

This step is further described on MyGuichet.

Operations Manuals

The operator shall develop operations manuals as required by the Regulation (EU) No 965/2012 (ORO.MLR.100). Those manuals (including the MEL and the Management System Documentation) and any amendment thereof shall be approved by the DAC. The following form shall be used: Application Form for Operations Document Approval

This step is further described on MyGuichet.

Nominated Person

The following personnel appointed by the operator shall be approved by the DAC (ORO.GEN.200 and ORO.GEN.210):

• Accountable Manager
• Safety Manager
• Compliance Monitoring Manager
• Nominated Person Flight Operations
• Nominated Person Ground Operations
• Nominated Person Crew Training
• Nominated Person Continuing Airworthiness

The DAC requires the operator to produce a written résumé of the proposed person's qualifications, together with evidences of training and qualifications. A dedicated form is available for this request. The DAC reserve the right to interview the nominee or call for additional evidence of his/her suitability before deciding upon his/her approval.

This step is further described on Guichet.lu.

Alternative Means of Compliance used by the DAC

The DAC is using the following AltMoC:

• AltMoC to ARO.GEN.200(a)(2), in particular to AMC4 ARO.GEN.200(a)(2) on inspector qualification

The detailed AltMoC is available under request to ops@av.etat.lu