EXPLANATORY STATEMENT
CIVIL AVIATION ACT 1988
CIVIL AVIATION ORDERS
CIVIL AVIATION ORDER 82.0 AMENDMENT ORDER (No. 1) 2005
Under paragraph 28BA (1) (b) of the Civil Aviation Act 1988 (the Act), an Air Operator’s Certificate (AOC) has effect subject to any conditions specified in the regulations or the Civil Aviation Orders (the CAOs).
Part 82 of the CAOs specifies conditions on AOCs. Section 82.0 contains general conditions.
The Order amends section 82.0 to make it a new general condition of a charter or a regular public transport (RPT) AOC that its holder must not enter a charter substitution arrangement without CASA’s written approval of the arrangement.
A charter substitution arrangement is an arrangement between a charter operator and another person. Under it, a passenger, who had contracted with that other person for carriage on a scheduled flight, would be carried instead by the charter operator.
The Order defines a scheduled flight as one advertised to the public, operating to and from fixed terminals and occurring in accordance with fixed schedules.
The new general condition is designed to prevent the use, by operators of scheduled passenger aircraft, of charter aircraft in substitution for the RPT aircraft that would otherwise have made the scheduled flight.
It is also designed to prevent a charter operator from entering into a charter substitution arrangement with any person, whether or not that person holds an AOC, without CASA’s approval.
The purpose of the Order is to ensure that only properly maintained and operated RPT aircraft, and not charter substitution aircraft, are used to carry passengers on RPT flights.
For this reason, it is not a charter substitution arrangement where the charter operator holds an AOC which authorises RPT operations on the proposed route and conducts the flight in accordance with that AOC.
Legislative Instruments Act
Under subsection 98 (4A) of the Act, CAOs made for the purposes of section 28BA of the Act are declared to be disallowable instruments. Under subparagraph 6 (d) (i) of the Legislative Instruments Act 2003 (the LIA), an instrument is a legislative instrument for section 5 of the LIA if it is declared to be a disallowable instrument under legislation in force before the commencement of the LIA. The Order is, therefore, a legislative instrument and it is subject to tabling and disallowance in the Parliament under sections 38 and 42 of the LIA.
Consultation
The purpose of the amendment is to prevent any diminution in the safety standards for passengers on scheduled flights through the use of substituted charter aircraft which may not have been maintained and operated to the same standards as are required for RPT operations. The proposals in the instrument were agreed to by the Aviation Safety Forum at its meeting on 19 May 2005.
The Order is minor or machinery in nature and will not substantially alter existing arrangements. For these reasons, the Office of Regulation Review does not require a Regulation Impact Statement.
The instrument commences on the day after it is registered on the Federal Register of Legislative Instruments.
The Order has been made by the Director of Aviation Safety, on behalf of CASA, in accordance with subsection 84A (2) of the Act.
[Civil Aviation Order 82.0 Amendment Order (No. 1) 2005]