EXPLANATORY STATEMENT
STATUTORY RULES 1990 NO. 258
CIVIL AVIATION REGULATIONS (AMENDMENT)
(ISSUED BY THE AUTHORITY OF THE MINISTER FOR SHIPPING AND AVIATION SUPPORT)
Subsection 98(1) of the Civil Aviation Act 1988 (the Act) provides in part that the Governor-General may make regulations for the purposes of the Act and in relation to the safety of air navigation.
Regulation 206 of the Civil Aviation Regulations, which defines “commercial purposes” for subsection 27(9) of the Act, provides, in subparagraph (b)(i), that charter purposes includes “the carriage of passengers for hire or reward to or from any place other than in accordance with fixed schedules”. Subparagraph 206(b)(i) applies to the practice of the holder of a private pilot licence sharing the costs of a flight with his or her passengers, although the flight is planned informally and undertaken for personal reasons common to the participants. As a result, cost-sharing led to breaches of the provisions of the Act and Regulations which are to be complied with by persons undertaking flights for commercial purposes.
The purpose of the amendments to regulation 2 of the Regulations is to allow cost-sharing flights to be classified as private operations if they are not advertised publicly and not run on a profit-making basis.
Details of the amending regulation are provided in the Attachment.
The amending regulation commenced on the date of its notification in the Gazette.
ATTACHMENT
Details of the Civil Aviation Regulations (Amendment)
The Regulation | - | in paragraph (a) inserts after subparagraph 2(7)(d)(v) a new subparagraph (va) which includes in private operations the carriage of persons in accordance with the new subregulation (7A). | |
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| in paragraph (b) inserts after subregulation (7) a new subregulation (7A) which states that an aircraft that carries persons on a flight otherwise than in accordance with a fixed schedule between terminals, is employed on a private operation if: | |
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| • | public notice of the flight has not been given by any form of public advertisement or announcement; and |
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| the number of persons on the flight, including the operating crew, does not exceed 6; and |
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| no payment is made for the services of the operating crew; and |
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| the persons on the flight, including the operating crew, share equally in the costs of the flight; and |
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| no payment is required for a person on the flight other than a requirement to share equally in the costs. |