EASA approvals
As I thought, no one is prepared to stick their neck out & go for it because it might all change in the next few months.
I think the beauracrats have been persuaded that there IS a difference between the airline & GA ( Helloooo!), but too late for some who have already decided to throw in the towel.
The trouble with EASA is it is a political animal, the EU commission said you must be open for business on 28th Sept. 2003 they had neither the staff or expertise & are still making it up as they go along.
The CAA, for all its faults , had years of experience behind it, you cannot replace it with an untried & tested system, it's no way to manage aircraft safety.
Whilst I'm on the rant, another thing. I calculated my company approval fees would be about 250% more than they are at the moment with the CAA. I wrote to my MEP & told him, he asked a question in the EU parliament & had a reply from the deputy commissioner no less. The gist was that these fees fund the certification operations of EASA, the shortfall was covered by community subsidy. By 2008 however it will (should) be funded entirely by fees.
My question is, how come the CAA could fund itself & make a 7%? profit (written into its constitution) without subsidy yet EASA has to charge over double with no mention of profit.
Even if it did make a profit we would not know because our dear EU commission is run like the politburo ( an MEP's words not mine), has not been audited for over 10 years.
Pete.