The Isle of Man Aircraft Registry, launched with modest expectations by the island’s government in May 2007, is seeing no letting up in activity as business aircraft owners seize on the advantages of using the M-register. Various factors are driving the registry’s popularity, including banks’ advising owners to distance themselves from Russia; VAT rules; impending ratification by the UK of the Cape Town Convention; intensified scrutiny of U.S. ownership trusts for N-registered aircraft based in Europe; and, indeed, the threat that Europe will outright ban the practice of basing N-registered aircraft in its territory.
Brian Johnson, acting director of civil aviation (DCA) at the time of the June 19 Isle of Man Aviation Conference, said that the agency had received 15 new registration applications in the first 15 days of May, a number he characterized as “a phenomenal amount of business.” In addition, he said he’d been asked “to register 27 parked airliners for three days” when they were between airlines. As of July 22, the Isle had handled 712 registrations and there were 443 aircraft on the register (a key activity is temporary registrations), Johnson told AIN.
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