Cost sharing vs charter: when you need an AOC

A cost sharing flight is a private flight where passengers contribute no more than their equal share of the direct costs; a charter is commercial air transport, where passengers pay for the flight and the operator needs an Air Operator Certificate (AOC) and a commercially licensed pilot. The line between them is whether anything of value passes to the pilot beyond a proper share of the direct costs. Cross it, and a flight you thought was private becomes an unlicensed commercial flight.

What makes a flight commercial

CAP 1590 explains that a flight carrying passengers for remuneration or other valuable consideration is commercial air transport (CAT), or public transport (PT) in the language of the Air Navigation Order 2016 (ANO). A CAT or PT flight needs:

• an AOC held by the operator;
• a pilot holding at least a Commercial Pilot Licence (CPL);
• an aircraft certificated and maintained to the relevant standards.

(CAP 1590, paras 4-5.) None of that is realistic for a private pilot in a club aircraft, which is why the cost sharing exception exists.

Cost sharing is a narrow exception

For Part-21 aeroplanes and helicopters, Article 6(4a)(a) of UK Regulation (EU) 965/2012 lets cost-shared flights by private individuals be flown under Part-NCO rather than as CAT, "on condition that the only remuneration or other valuable consideration given or promised for the flight to the pilot by the passengers is a contribution towards the direct costs of the flight which would otherwise be payable by the pilot in command", and only where the conditions of NCO.GEN.102 are met. For permit aircraft and microlights, ANO article 13 does the same job by treating such a flight as a "non-commercial flight".

The conditions are essentially the same on both routes: no more than six people including the pilot, passengers contribute only to direct costs and no more than an equal share each, the flight is operated by a private individual, no pilot is employed or contracted to fly it, passengers are told it isn't to CAT safety standards and sign a declaration, and adverts meet the content rules. The CAP 1590 guide goes through each one.

The key point is that the exception only applies if every condition is met. CAP 1590 is clear that "there can be no element of profit for the pilot" (paras 3 and 28).

Cost sharing and charter side by side

What "valuable consideration" means

CAP 1590 defines valuable consideration as "any right, interest, profit or benefit … which is of more than a nominal nature" (para 40). It isn't limited to cash.

The rules don't list what counts in practice, so some judgement is needed. On a literal reading, anything of real value that reaches you because of the flight, beyond a proper share of the direct costs, could count. The cautious approach is to treat these as risky:

• passengers paying more than their equal share, or paying towards insurance, maintenance or club fees;
• a "rental" rate above the market rate for the aircraft;
• free accommodation, meals or tickets given in return for the flight;
• a flight you're paid to do for a business, or flown on behalf of a company.

The direct costs guide sets out exactly what can be shared, and the cost sharing calculator helps you keep each passenger at or under their share.

Two things are clearer. For non-Part-21 aircraft, ANO article 13(1)(a) also covers flights where "there has been no valuable consideration", so taking a friend up for free is fine. And in the CAA's view, a fee a platform charges the passenger for its introduction service is "payment for an introduction service", not consideration for the flight (CAP 2391, para 3.18).

The other derogations in Article 6(4a)

Cost sharing is one of three derogations in Article 6(4a). The other two are for organised activities rather than private pilots, and they work differently.

Competitions and flying displays

Article 6(4a)(b) covers competition flights and flying displays. Here remuneration is limited to "recovery of direct costs and a proportionate contribution to annual costs, as well as prizes" up to a value the CAA specifies. Note that annual costs are allowed under this derogation. Under cost sharing they are not, so don't carry the display rules over to a cost sharing trip.

Introductory flights and similar

Article 6(4a)(c) covers introductory flights, parachute dropping, sailplane towing and aerobatic flights performed by a training organisation or an aerial sport or leisure organisation. The conditions are that the aircraft is owned or dry-leased by the organisation, no profits are distributed outside it, and flights involving non-members are "only a marginal activity". These conditions are about the organisation, so this derogation is not something you can use as a private pilot sharing costs with friends.

What happens if you get it wrong

If a flight fails the cost sharing conditions, it isn't a cost sharing flight. It becomes PT or CAT, and it needed an AOC it didn't have. The offences are in the ANO, and Schedule 13 Part 3 lists, among others:

• article 101(1), "Aircraft not to fly for public transport without AOC";
• article 103, on CAT flown other than under a Part-CAT AOC;
• article 104(1), "Offering commercial air transport and public transport flights without AOC".

Under article 265(7), the penalty on summary conviction is a fine (in England and Wales), and on conviction on indictment "a fine or … imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years, or to both". Article 265(1) deems both the operator and the pilot in command to have contravened, and on a cost sharing flight that is normally you on both counts.

The CAA has said that a pilot who doesn't contribute proportionally makes the flight "an illegally operated flight", which it will investigate and enforce (CAP 2391). The CAA's passenger form also warns that making a profit risks "potentially rendering any insurance invalid".

It isn't clear from the legislation whether breaching an individual condition on its own, such as failing to keep a passenger declaration, is a separately listed offence. The safe assumption is that any failed condition takes the flight outside the exception, with the AOC offences above in play. Keeping a signed declaration for every passenger, which Split My Flight collects and stores for you, is the simplest way to show the flight met the conditions if you're ever asked.

The short version

If passengers pay only their equal share of fuel, oil, airfield charges and market-rate rental, you pay at least yours plus everything else, and every other condition is met, it's cost sharing. If anyone is paying you to fly, paying for more than direct costs, or paying more than their share, it's commercial and needs an AOC. For more on what a private licence allows, see can a private pilot charge passengers? and the regulations overview.