Rising regulatory and administrative costs could drive business aircraft away from the UK, according to the British Business and General Aviation Association (BBGA). One significant source of additional expense could come if the UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) has to fully recover its costs from those it regulators, as is expected. But there is also now the prospect of new taxes, such as the extension of airline passenger duty (APD) to business and private aircraft.
Nonetheless, the BBGA broadly welcomes what it views as a more constructive relationship between the UK industry and its main regulator as the CAA embarks on a business-process re-engineering (BPR) exercise that includes an end to cross-subsidization in the way it accounts for industry fees. Unlike other European national aviation authorities, the UK organization is required to more than cover its overhead costs from service charges, explained BBGA’s recently appointed chief operating officer Marc Bailey.
