Legal Expertise for the Aviation Industry: Advice, Financing & Contract Drafting

The purchase and sale of aircraft into or out of the European Union may give rise to import VAT and customs duties. These must be properly declared when the aircraft first lands at a customs airport. Failure to do so may jeopardise your entitlement to recover VAT arising from the aircraft’s commercial operation. Depending on the place of handover, further transaction taxes may also become payable.

Drawing on our many years of experience with the import and export of aircraft, we structure your transaction and the handover of your business jet accordingly.

Obtaining an aircraft’s certificate of registration requires a considerable amount of documentation to be completed and submitted. Whether you intend to register your business jet in the Channel Islands, the British Virgin Islands or in Germany with the Luftfahrt-Bundesamt (LBA) in Braunschweig, we advise and assist you with preparing the required documentation and completing the registration process.

Aircraft are often operated without the necessary personnel or expertise to maintain them in accordance with the requirements of the EASA (European Union Aviation Safety Agency) and the LBA. If you decide to have your aircraft operated by another person acting as its aviation-law owner or operator, this raises a range of legal and commercial questions.

We advise you on these issues and assist you in structuring and negotiating the relevant agreements.

We assess both the legal permissibility and the tax implications of your proposed operating model. This may involve private use, leasing the aircraft to third parties to reduce costs, using it for intra-group business travel or sharing its use with other co-owners.

The issues may include VAT exemptions, mineral oil tax and the deductibility of operating expenses incurred through special-purpose entities.

We also identify suitable partners and prepare the necessary contractual documentation. This includes arrangements involving the use of another operator’s Air Operator Certificate (AOC) or the services of a Continuing Airworthiness Management Organisation (CAMO).

Wet leasing, also known as ACMI leasing, involves the provision of an aircraft together with crew, maintenance and insurance. It has become an important form of aircraft operation.

Commercial airlines face fluctuating and often short-term capacity requirements, while aircraft manufacturers have at times been affected by supply constraints. This has led to a range of wet-lease structures designed to meet the individual requirements of each airline.

We develop and negotiate agreements tailored to the relevant operating model, with particular attention to quality standards concerning maintenance condition and crew qualifications, as well as financial protection through security arrangements.

Das sogenannte Wet-Leasing oder ACMI-Leasing, also die Vercharterung von Flugzeugen mitsamt Besatzung, Wartung und Versicherung hat sich inzwischen zu einer wichtigen Nutzungsform entwickelt. Aufgrund eines wechselnden und oftmals kurzfristigen Kapazitätsbedarfs kommerzieller Fluggesellschaften und den zum Teil herrschenden Lieferengpässen seitens der Flugzeughersteller haben sich unterschiedliche Formen des Wet-Leases herausgebildet, um dem sehr individuellen Bedarf der jeweiligen Fluggesellschaften Rechnung zu tragen. Demgemäß entwickeln wir für Sie die hierzu passenden Verträge individuell und bedarfsgerecht, insbesondere mit Blick auf die Sicherstellung der Qualitätsstandards in Bezug auf Wartungszustand, Qualifikation der Besatzung sowie die finanzielle Absicherung durch Sicherheitsleistungen.

The aircraft leasing market has grown significantly over recent decades. Large leasing companies provide commercial airlines with substantial numbers of aircraft under a range of different structures. These transactions are generally based on complex and extensive contractual documentation.

We analyse these agreements in detail and work towards solutions that appropriately balance the interests of the parties. This includes, in particular, delivery and redelivery conditions, permitted use and the consequences of breaches of contractual obligations and other default situations.

We also coordinate the implementation and administration of the agreement to ensure an efficient transaction and a sound contractual outcome.

The interface between employment law and aviation law requires a thorough understanding of both areas. Travel to and from a pilot’s home base may be treated differently under the German Working Time Act than under an applicable Flight Time and Duty Time Limitations or Fatigue Risk Management System (FRMS).

Whether a pilot is genuinely self-employed or should be classified as an employee cannot be determined without considering the extensive body of relevant case law.

Our employment law team advises a range of commercial aviation businesses and assists with these questions on the basis of both employment and aviation law.

Maintenance is fundamental to the safe operation of an aircraft. We advise on the conclusion of framework agreements for base and line maintenance and negotiate agreements concerning the supply of technical components and avionics.

As legal counsel to GATE e.V., we are closely involved in the recurring legal issues affecting aviation businesses. This enables us to provide focused and commercially sound advice.

Whether you are an international group seeking advice on legal matters concerning your German subsidiary, need to structure a framework supply agreement or require general terms and conditions for your procurement activities, we develop the appropriate legal solution.

We are familiar with the requirements of aviation security law and with the operational environment in which our clients work, from apron vehicles to vertical baggage conveyor systems.