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Fox Flight Air Ambulance, a Canadian-owned company specializing in international medical repatriation, has been certified by the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) as an authorized third-country commercial air operator (CAO). This authorization confirms that Fox Flight is in compliance with all EASA safety and procedural requirements and is therefore entitled to apply for individual operating permits to perform commercial air operations into, within, or out of EASA’s 32 member states.
“Achieving EASA authorization further validates our ongoing efforts to maintain the highest standards of flight safety, operations and maintenance,” said David Fox, president of Fox Flight. “From a certification standpoint, EASA authorization is essential for our business because we fly into and out of Europe several times each week performing medical repatriation services for our clients, and this specific authorization will become mandatory for all third-country operators beginning this fall.”
As a foreign (non-European) aviation operator, Fox Flight has been authorized as a CAO under Part-TCO (third-country operator) of the EASA requirements. In order to achieve this authorization, Fox Flight was required to undergo a comprehensive audit of its safety record and procedures related to equipment, maintenance and training.
In addition, the company’s entire fleet of Lear air ambulances was required to meet EASA standards with respect to plane avionics, traffic collision avoidance (TCAS) systems and on board flight data recorders.
EASA announced in May 2014 that all third-country CAOs flying into and out of Europe would be required to hold authorization under Part-TCO going forward. This new requirement has been widely publicized within the aviation industry and the deadline for operators to at least apply for authorization is November 26 of this year.
After that date, it will be impossible for any aviation company that has not applied for EASA authorization to obtain operating permits from EASA member states.
