More than four years after some French executive charter operators began voicing concerns about the legality of NetJets Europe’s operations in that country, the trial of the fractional ownership operator started in earnest on June 23 in Bobigny, near Paris. The main charge is “dissimulated work,” as the plaintiffs and the prosecutor allege that a number of NetJets pilots should have been employed under French (as opposed to other European countries’) job contracts. NetJets asserts it is complying with “European rules.”
THS, a Lyon-based operator, filed a formal complaint in 2008. That year, according to NetJets, 19.3 percent of aircraft movements flown by the company’s 156 French pilots originated or ended at French airports. Since 2007, they had been working under UK job contracts. Before that they were employed under contracts that complied with Isle of Man laws (which differ from those of the European Union). They now pay their income taxes in Portugal, NetJets confirmed.
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