Volare Aviation of Guernsey has been awarded the Channel Island's first AOC. Although issued by Guernsey's director of civil aviation, the certification was performed by 2-REG, its aircraft registry under which Volare's fleet of Challengers is registered.

“We have been under the radar so far as an operator,” says chief pilot Paul Wood. “We have only existed for about six months, but we have obviously been involved with other AOCs beforehand. At the moment we are operating three Challenger 601s, with an eye to getting some other aircraft eventually. We are not really interested in getting a lot of aircraft, but for the ones we do have, 2-REG is a bespoke service with AOC capability, which gives you very competitive fuel and taxes.

“With 2-REG you can import aircraft onto it from anywhere in the world.

“You have got the likes of Bermuda, Cayman, Isle of Man, Malta, but none of these are able to do what 2-REG can as a registry, existing outside of Europe but in the European Commission. It is outside for the tax benefits but inside for the movement, plus it is the same time zone as the UK.”

Established at the end of 2013, 2-REG is an independent registry which has its own regulations and requirements and is not governed by EASA, but by ICAO standards. “Volare must comply with exactly the same amount of regulation as the rest of the industry, and operates under Part 121 regulations for heavy jets,” says Wood.

He believes that this service will be an attractive proposition to other operators. “I suspect that once our news gets out there will be a lot of other people looking to get AOCs with 2-REG, because of the advantages,” he states. “The 2-REG system is a very small team; you know who you are dealing with each time and you can talk to them without having to get in a phone queue. This is why we have managed to get it done so quickly.”

Volare is already making good use of the worldwide capability granted by its AOC. “We have had trips to Japan, LA and anywhere in between; we also have one coming up to Australia. Realistically we can do 3,000 nm on the Challengers, for seven hours with an hour reserve,” concludes Wood.

It is possible to choose which Guernsey registration marks to register, and Volare cheekily opted for 2-MATO and 2-SEXY.