Apparently it is perfectly legal to sell shares in an aircraft (or company owning an aircraft) which makes the buyer of those an owner and thus he can hire a pilot and fly as a passenger in „his“ aircraft. Taking for instance a typical SEP, this would equate to non-aoc required flights according NCO.
Some companies have multiple aircraft and through some sort of management contract the part share (fractional) owner of one aircraft can utilize all aircraft in the fleet.
What is the minimum % of ownership that is required for the law to accept it as „fractional“? Which law mandates this (national or EASA/EU)?
Any pointers to somebody who really knows this? Any experiences? Thanks!
The pilot can even by employed by the entity owning the plane. This may require that the entity be a partnership, not a company, I’m not sure.
I know operators running on this principle that do it down to 1/8th shares and 1/16th shares, so that must be legal in at least those countries.
I hope others will have more definite answers.
I believe it requires a minimum 5% ownership, which may be down to tax guidelines rather than legislation.
A lot of these operations are M reg (Isle of Man), and the company secretarial and accounting costs are non trivial.
The ops were approved as Part 91, but following EASA Part.NCO I concluded, perhaps incorrectly, there were too many grey areas.
A common occurrence is you are asked to fly friends and ‘family’ with no owner on board. Very grey, especially as you are likely to get ramp checks several times a year.
The fractional PC-12 outfit on a Luxembourg reg operates with SOP but I don’t believe it extends to multi crew, although they have safety pilots. It also is not AOC. This maybe the benchmark for these operations so perhaps having a conversation with one of their captains might help.
As with all of such things, the real acid test only comes when something happens: As there doesn’t seem to be hard limit (surely not in EU-regulations and also not in Germany / there might be national rules in some other countries), in case of an accident (read: liability claims) courts will look on the overall situation. Then it’s not only about the share of ownership, but also on several organizational question – all centered around the core “Is it really a fractional owner or a charter customer camouflaged as owner”. Such questions could include:
For all such (and many more) questions there is no clear black/whit answers that either prove ownership or hidden AOC, but any court will create an opinion on whether it has been true fractional ownership or rather an AOC trying to use a gray area…
Check Flyaeolus, they sell 0,5% of the planes.
Is the restriction that not more than 20 can own shares in an aircraft?
The shares are not equal, so not all 5%.
See above. They offer 0,5% of Cirrus shares. I wonder how it works in detail.
Previous fractional ownership thread
Not “EASA sanctioned” (whatever that might mean) but possibly relevant.
You and 19 others have each 0.5%. He has 90.5%.
I’m looking for a lawyer who is up to date on this stuff. Anybody know one? Thanks!
