Proposed changes to the advertising element of the cost sharing regulations

This consultation document (CAP2601) concentrated solely on the advertising element of the proposed changes to the cost sharing rules. As our proposals on advertising were created as a result of responses received during our first consultation and differed significantly from the original proposal, the public had not been offered the opportunity to comment on the changes we suggested.

Furthermore, since we published our initial proposals, further proposals have been suggested as part of concurrent CAA projects looking at GA licencing and Pilot Medical Declarations (PMD).

We therefore decided to provide the GA community with this additional opportunity to input their views on the advertising of cost sharing flights through this additional consultation before the policy is finalised.

We received 1817 individual responses to our consultation questions, with 575 additional comments. The results are summarised below:

Q1: Do you currently or have you ever advertised a cost sharing flight online?

• Yes 11.72 %
• No 83.32 %
• Prefer not to say / not answered 4.95 %

Q2: Do you agree that the advertising element of the current cost sharing regulations should be reviewed and amended?

• Yes 21.19 %
• No 77.22 %
• Prefer not to say / not answered 1.60 %

Q3: Prior to the UK joining EASA, the advertising of a cost sharing flight was prohibited outside of a flying club environment. Would you support a return to those requirements regarding the advertising of cost sharing flights?

This required that: "no information has been published or advertised before the commencement of the flight other than, in the case of an aircraft operated by a flying club, advertising wholly within the premises of such a flying club in which case all the persons carried on such a flight who are aged 18 years or over must be members of that flying club". 

• Yes    13.65 %
• No    85.25 %
• Prefer not to say / not answered    1.10 %

Q4: In relation to the proposed amendments: "Cost sharing flights may be advertised. The advertisement must be placed by the pilot intending to operate the flight and it must relate to a specific flight that the pilot intends to take place, regardless of whether passengers are available for carriage. The advertisement must include the start and end locations, as well as the dates when the pilot intends to conduct the flight." To what extent do you agree that this proposed amendment is clear and easy to follow?

• Strongly agree 14.64 %
• Agree 9.74 %
• Neither agree nor disagree 4.51 %
• Disagree 8.37 %
• Strongly disagree 62.74 %
• Not answered 0 %

Q5: In relation to the below proposed amendments: "Cost sharing flights may be advertised. The advertisement must be placed by the pilot intending to operate the flight and it must relate to a specific flight that the pilot intends to take place, regardless of whether passengers are available for carriage. The advertisement must include the start and end locations, as well as the dates when the pilot intends to conduct the flight." To what extent do you agree that this proposed amendment is appropriate?

• Strongly agree 13.48 %
• Agree 8.31 %
• Neither agree nor disagree 3.25 %
• Disagree 8.37 %
• Strongly disagree 66.59 %
• Not answered 0 %

Q6: Do you believe that a pilot should have to include any of the following information in their advertisement to ensure passengers are fully aware of a pilot’s credentials before booking to join a cost sharing flight? (Please select all that apply)

• Licence type held (i.e. PPL) 87.62 %
• Medical held (i.e. Class 2, PMD) 79.09 %
• Flying experience 85.20 %
• Pilot recency 75.95 %
• None of the above 6.71 %
• No opinion / don’t know / not answered 3.74 %

Of the 575 additional comments received, all were analysed, and some main themes were identified. These included:

• The proposed amendment to advertising goes against the assumed original intent of cost sharing (i.e. hour building, maintaining currency, introducing more people to GA, allows for cheaper flying costs)
• There needs to be more flexibility in the advertising of cost sharing flights
• There needs to be better monitoring of cost sharing flights by the CAA
• Cost sharing flights should not be available online / to the general public
• Pilots / third parties should not be able to make a profit for cost sharing flights
• Cost sharing flights are detrimental to commercial organisations 

We have concluded the analysis of all responses received and have taken into account stakeholder feedback on this topic. We are grateful for the submissions received and acknowledge that the majority of stakeholders who responded are against our proposed changes to the advertising element of the cost sharing regulations. 

With that in mind, and after having completed further internal work to review the safety concerns relating to cost sharing flights, we have decided to revise our final policy position and will be providing our formal opinion to the Department of Transport (DfT) shortly. This formal opinion will include all other changes confirmed in CAP 2391 which we previously consulted on. 

With regards to the advertising of cost sharing flights, our proposed changes to the regulation will be as follows, (please note the below is not the final regulation wording, the DfT are responsible for the final wording of the regulation):  
Cost sharing flights may be advertised. The advertisement must be placed by the pilot intending to operate the flight and must include the start and end locations, the date when the pilot is available to conduct the flight, and any other information prescribed by the CAA.

We will also publish Guidance Material (GM), CAP documents, Acceptable Means of Compliance (AMC)  and if applicable Alternative Means of Compliance (AltMoC) which will provide pilots and the public with further information about cost sharing flights including, but not limited to, that it is understood that pilots may choose to change the advertised destination at any point for any reason such as weather etc but passengers should not be permitted to dictate the destination of the cost sharing flight in the manner of someone chartering an aircraft. 

Taking into account the stakeholder feedback received, we understand that cost sharing flights need to have a certain amount of flexibility and therefore we feel that this revised wording allows for that whilst still ensuring that the pilot is in full control of the destination and date/time of the flight.

Our main objectives when reviewing the existing cost sharing regulations were to improve the regulation and guidance to ensure potential passengers better understand the type of flight and risks involved, and to help pilots better understand the regulation. We believe that we have achieved these objectives with the changes we are proposing to introduce, and therefore accept that allowing some flexibility in the advertising of cost sharing flights would not significantly impact the safety of such flights.

During the consultation we asked the community whether any additional information relating to the pilot’s credentials such as licence, medical held etc, should be included in any advertisement of a cost sharing flight. We are still reviewing this element of the proposal at this time. 

The internal working group are considering whether this information would be adequately understood by members of the public and a decision on what should be included will be made in due course. Therefore, we have chosen to include in the proposed regulation wording a statement which will allow for this: ‘and any other information prescribed by the CAA’. 

We believe this requirement will allow the CAA to require the disclosure in advertisements of additional information considered important to assist passengers to make an informed decision whether to take a particular flight. It will also enable the CAA to require disclosure of additional information that becomes relevant to potential passengers as a result of developments in future technologies.

The CAA will now finalise the revised policy proposal to the DfT and will collaborate with relevant stakeholders to produce the supporting documentation to enable a regulation amendment. Until these changes come into effect, the cost sharing regulations remain as they are currently and there is no immediate action for the community to take.