Peter wrote:
It sems like an Introductory Flight needs an ATO and the ATO needs to appoint some kind of supervisor.
You’re right about the “supervisor”, but you don’t need an ATO. As the regulation says: “either by a training organisation … or by an organisation created with the aim of promoting aerial sport or leisure aviation.” So a DTO or an aeroclub will do just as well.
The important point here is that an individual can’t do introductory flights — only an organisation can. @BeechBaby didn’t say if he operated his Air Experience flights as cost sharing flights or introductory flights, but in the latter case his club was right that he could not do them on his own — it had to be a club operation. That is not to say that their were right in other respects, of course.
So… how do you define a “club”?
In some countries, a flying school club can get “sporting body” tax concessions. Not in the UK, except AIUI you don’t pay corporation tax on profits (they can be retained). So I am sure the financial structure cannot be a viable definition.
Another one is a “club house”. For decades this was the basis of the regulation concerning cost sharing (“all passengers must be members of the club and the cost shared flights may be advertised only in the club”, or some version of that). I am pretty sure that an online club would have met this requirement, but the CAA was smart enough to never let this one be tested in a court 
Finally, the new cost sharing regs removed that requirement. So physical premises cannot be a viable definition either.
A “club” is when money stays in the club ;)
I think you also need a “cfi” and list of “authorized pilots” that are regularly checked (at least in gliding) to conduct introductory flights, also it should not be your main activity…
Peter wrote:
I can see some “politics” involved. An ATO isn’t going to let a PPL do this unless there is a queue at the door and they are totally short of FIs.
I’ve been asked to do some of these (they knew I was a CRI) by a place near london. I ended up having to travel much more than I initially thought so had to decline – but apparently they had just what you describe.
To clarify I took my CRI course, set up a promotional company to operate the flights and attached myself to the ATO. Absolutely no issue until the ATO realised that I was doing much better than them in terms of sales numbers. Then the ’’instructor’’ pool who were on 10.00 an hour, realised that to fly Introductory flights/Air Experience flights, (its the same thing Peter), had to fly them for no reward, ie free, I became the target because in their eyes I was getting the flying, and by default paying myself. Had they only asked they would realise that by the time all was said and done the flights were being completed for no financial benefit other than covering costs. In fairness that was all I was personally interested in. I also understand the set up costs for clubs etc but I mistakenly thought they would be more open to synergies for the good of GA awareness, which is what I thought the concept was designed to do.
In the end I got fed up with the chatter and decided to pull the project. Unfortunate but the fact that I was being approached by the CFI who told me this was illegal/that was illegal I came to the conclusion that it was not worth the hassle.
Peter wrote:
how do you define a “club”
You don’t need to, as the rules say it’s to be done under the auspices of
a training organisation referred to in Article 10a of Commission Regulation (EU) No 1178/20111 or by an organisation created with the aim of promoting aerial sport or leisure aviation
Peter wrote:
So… how do you define a “club”?
In Germany an eingetragener Verein (“registered club”) is a non-profit organisation with a charter, which must promote some kind of common public interest (this is widely defined…aero clubs do fall under this category) and which is tax-exempt. The organisation must have at least 7 members, meet annually and declare its finances to the Finanzamt (tax offices). Note that “non-profit” does not mean that no surplus is allowed, but eventually the excess money must be spent for the purpose for which the club is registered.
The organisation must have at least 7 members
Interesting. I vaguely recall that e.g. Greece requires 20+… @atmilatos or @petakas might know. For the UK I can’t find any number but presumably it is more than 1 
an organisation created with the aim of promoting aerial sport or leisure aviation
That is what I was getting at; it is a wording open to challenge.
set up a promotional company to operate the flights
Why did you set up a company?
Correct, it’s at least 20 for Greece.
