A previous thread on this subject was closed, but I thought people,
especially Steve6443, would be interested in this article from the
latest IAOPA news letter:
EC allays threat to cost-sharing
More positive news on the lobbying front in Brussels – the European Commission’s
transport department, DG MOVE, is to lift some restrictions on cost-sharing which
could have had a devastating impact on general aviation. It had been proposed that
because money was changing hands, cost-sharing between GA pilots and passengers
should be an illegal activity. However, following concerted work by IAOPA’s Brussels
lobbyist Lutz Dommel and IAOPA executives, policy officers at DG MOVE have
informed IAOPA that in the proposed Ops rules they have put in place the ability for
up to six people to cost-share, one of whom must be the pilot. IAOPA Senior Vice
President MartinRobinson said: “This is a major step forward and we are grateful to
the policy officers for coming to this decision. We met with them at Aero Friedrichshafen
and were very pleased to find that our work had borne fruit. Removing
the ability to cost-share would have been a major blow to general aviation. Not only will
it be allowed, but the maximum number of participants will be set at six – at the
moment it is four in many countries, and in other states, the picture on cost-sharing
has been confused. For many pilots, this single decision will have been worth AOPA
membership many times over