APPENDIX 37
Memorandum submitted by Lane and Partners
LLP
I am writing with reference to the session on
11 January 2006 at which representatives of the CAA gave evidence
to the Transport Committee. At Q76, Mr Lee Scott raised with Sir
Roy McNulty the important question in relation to. the regulatory
supervision of carriers not registered in this country but predominantly
using our airports for flying to other European destinations....
The question was answered by Sir Roy more in
relation to safety and the opportunity that the UK has to carry
out airport checks than in relation to the basic question of whether
or not the CAA should have primary responsibility for the regulatory
supervision of certain airlines.
Council Regulation No 2407/92 on the Licensing
of Air Carriers (Article 4) requires that:
no undertaking shall be granted an operating
licence by a Member State unless (a) its principal place of business
and, if any, its registered office are located in that Member
State...."
In the recent case of EUjet, which collapsed
in July 2005, it became apparent that, notwithstanding that the
airline's network of 17 routes all emanated from Manston (Kent
International) Airport, it was actually regulated by the Irish
CAA.
Other anomalies exist in this connection. They
raise competition as well as safety issues. Obviously, there is
a cost attached to regulation and it is fairer if airlines competing
in the same market are regulated by the same authority. From the
safety angle, long distance regulation can be argued to be less
effective than regulation by the home licensing authority."
In case it may be of assistance to the Committee,
I am attaching a copy of our Aviation Law Bulletin for Winter
2005, which included on pages 1 and 2 an article about the above
points. [8]
23 January 2006
8 Not printed. Back
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