The new “SHY-6B General Aviation Regulation” (“Regulation”), which regulates the procedures and principles regarding the licensing of general aviation operators, has been entered into force by being published at the Official Gazette dated 24.04.2020 and numbered 31108, and the former SHY-6B General Aviation Regulation dated 14.05.2013 has been repealed accordingly.

The regulation introduced new arrangements on (i) the requirements to be sought in real and legal persons who apply in order to obtain a license for operating general aviation activities, (ii) the principles for granting an operating license and (iii) the procedures and standards which general aviation operators have to comply with within the scope of their activities.

As per to the Regulation, apart from commercial air transportation, general aviation activities have been definied by being subject to the following classifications; (i) non-commercial operations conducted with complex non-motorized aircraft (B1), (ii) commercial private operations (B2), (iii) training activities (B3), (iv) non-commercial operations conducted with complex motorized aircraft (B4) and (v) non-commercial operations (B5). Real and legal persons who will operate within this scope are obliged to obtain permission from the General Directorate of Civil Aviation.

With the aforesaid Regulation, in order to comply with the relevant European Union legislation, the procedural and organizational requirements to be satisfied by the companies which currently carry out or will be engaged in future in the commercial private operations are determined within the scope of the legislation numbered 965/2012 published by the European Commission in relation to the flight operations.

The Regulation explicitly determines the minimum work experience and the qualifications that must be fulfilled by each of the (i) responsible manager who carries out his duties on entities conducting commercial private operations[1], (ii) director personnel responsible for flight operations, (iii) director personnel responsible for ground operations, (iv) director personnel responsible for training, (v) director personnel responsible for monitoring compliance and (vi) security system director. General aviation enterprises which do not comply with the aforesaid criteria are obliged to meet the aforesaid requirements within the compliance period of 6 months. Otherwise, their operating licenses of general aviation shall be suspended. The General Directorate of Civil Aviation is authorized to approve the qualifications of the above-mentioned directors and/or to cancel the approval documents of these directors as a result of the inspection, examination or evaluation to be performed within this respect.

With the Regulation, private operations have been counted in detail without being limited and criteria have been set for private operations which have not been listed under the Regulation. Accordingly, except for the private operations listed in the Regulation, it shall be decided whether or not any activity is deemed within the scope of special operation according to the following criteria:

• Executing of close flights to the surface by aircraft on duty,
• Performing abnormal maneuvers,
• Requiring special equipment required for the maneuverability of the aircraft and for the execution of the mission,
• During flight, removing of harmful substances or substances that affect the maneuverability of the aircraft,
• Towing or lifting external loads or materials,
• During the flight, people enter or leave the aircraft, and
• Entry of persons into the aircraft or leave of persons from aircraft during flight

The Regulation stipulates that in the event that there is more than one operating license holder capable for performing private operations, commercial private operation activities with foreign registered aircraft shall not be permitted. Thus, it is aimed to keep the capital domestically by prioritizing such operations to be carried out by domestic enterprises.

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[1] means any operation other than commercial air transport, where the aircraft is used for special activities such as agriculture, construction, photography, cartography, geophysical surveys, observation and exploration, airborne advertisement, maintenance control flight.