Air operators certification

The procedure for air operators’ certification is performed in order to determine the capacity and the preparation level of the air operator to perform safety and efficient commercial air transport operations and in order to conform to the requirements of JAR-OPS 1 & JAR-OPS 3, as well to the national and international regulations in force.

Conditions for presentation of the approval for certification
The applicant for Air Operator Certificate (AOC) shall fulfill the following requirements:

To be a natural or a legal person of the Republic of Moldova;
Shall not hold an Air Operator Certificate of a foreign aeronautical authority;
The aircraft that is to be registered in the own AOC shall be registered in the Aeronautical Register of the Republic of Moldova or of the other signatory state of the Convention on international civil aviation (Chicago, 1944), if between the CAA and the aeronautical authority of the respective state has been concluded an agreement regarding the transfer of responsibilities concerning supervision of the aircraft, on the basis of the Article 83 bis of the Chicago Convention from 1944, and shall not be included in the certificate /authorization of the other air operator or in a similar document issued by the CAA or by another aeronautical authority.
To be the owner, or to rent from a natural and legal person of the Republic of Moldova at least a correspondent aircraft for the requested works with a valid airworthiness certificate issued or accepted by the CAA. This condition does not refer to the air operators which execute scheduled flights to/from the Republic of Moldova;
To have qualified administrative and financial-commercial personnel for the proposed type of activity, at the same time assuring at least 75% of aeronautical personnel with citizens of the Republic of Moldova, in case on the labor market exist specialists of the respective qualification. The personnel that are not citizens of the Republic of Moldova shall hold resident and labor valid permits in the Republic of Moldova issued by the competent bodies, in accordance with the legislation in force.
To posses sufficient financial resources for performance of the requested activities;
To have a social capital of minimum 500 thousand lei, as well as an own capital not smaller than the social capital;
To have the confirmation of the bank regarding the solvability and disposal of the sufficient financial means for performance of the requested activities without income during a period of 3 months, but not less than 500 thousand lei;
To have a coherent assistance plan / or development of the own activity;
To conclude contracts with the suppliers of aeronautical services (handling, aeronautical services and airport services), certified/recognized by the CAA;
To conclude for every aircraft assurance contracts for the commercial load and civil liability contracts in respect to the third parties;
To perform marketing investigations for the proposed type of activity;
To have direct access or through the intermediation of other economic agents to the electronic reservation system (in case of scheduled passenger air transport);
To have an own system of internal regulations regarding the general passengers, luggage, mail and goods air transport requirements and the regulations regarding the consumer protection;
To have a control system of the intended aeronautical activities, in accordance with the requirements for collection, analyses, centralization and dissemination of the statistics in the civil aviation field.

Necessary Documents

Application for issuance of the AOC is filled in according to the model.
To the application for issuance of the AOC shall be attached the following documents:

The documents for operation of the aircraft;
Constituent documents of the applicant with all amendments and modifications;
The extract from the bank account;
The documents that confirm conformance to the requirements established in RAC-AOC;
Proof regarding the tax payment collected by the CAA for the examination and fulfillment of the certification procedure;
Power of attorney in which the applicant is represented by another person;
Documents for certification of the maintenance system provided in JAR-OPS 1 & JAR-OPS 3.

3. The documents for operation of the aircraft shall comprise the following:

Flight manual of the air operator;
Manuals and documents necessary for operation of the aircraft and maintenance according to JAR-OPS 1 & JAR-OPS 3;
Copies of the contracts concluded between the applicant and the certified agents for aeronautical services rendering;
Copies of the assurance contracts regarding civil liabilities with respect to the third parties;
Copies of the assurance contracts for every operated aircraft;
Copies of the assurance contracts of the crew members.

4. All the copies shall be legally authenticated.

Terms for examination of the applications for certification
The initial certification procedure for issuance of the AOC shall not exceed 90 days since the presentation of the application.

Modification of the AOC
Modifications in AOC can be performed at the request of the air operator or as a result of the decision of the CAA. These consist in extension or restriction of the operating conditions included in the Annex AOC, in respect of modification of the AOC for operation of the additional aircraft or types of aircraft, as well as in order to issue special authorizations.

Reestablishment of the AOC validity term

The validity term of AOC may be reestablished on the basis of the request of the air operator after eliminating all the deficiencies discovered by the CAA.

Validity term of AOC
The validity term of the AOC is 12 months.