The High Court has refused Cityjet Limited’s judicial review challenge to the Irish Aviation Authority’s refusal to issue an Irish certificate of airworthiness for a leased BAe 146-200 aircraft. The court dismissed Cityjet’s claims for declaratory relief and damages.
Mr Justice Kelly found that the Authority’s decision was made in March 2004, when national law governed individual aircraft airworthiness certificates. The European rules Cityjet relied on had not yet taken effect for that purpose. The judge concluded that the Authority had not breached European law by refusing the certificate at that time.
Cityjet argued that European regulations required the Authority to recognise certificates issued by the UK Civil Aviation Authority. The judge distinguished certification of an aircraft type from an individual aircraft certificate. He found that the rules cited by Cityjet did not require automatic recognition of an individual certificate in the circumstances then applying.
The jet had a UK certificate issued in 2002, which was in force when the Authority made its decision. The judge noted that the Authority had recognised that certificate through arrangements allowing the aircraft to operate in Irish airspace and on Cityjet’s Irish Air Operator’s Certificate while it remained on the UK register.
A renewed UK certificate dated February 2005 referred to a European regulation. The judge said that even if the Authority had refused an Irish certificate after that renewal, it was not unlawful to rely on national legislation before the relevant European provisions became applicable. He said the UK authority’s earlier use of the European regulation did not oblige other member states to apply it ahead of its stated start date.
The dispute arose after the Authority found that maintenance records covering an 11-year period were missing. Cityjet accepted that the aircraft records were incomplete, and the judge recorded that the Authority’s domestic-law basis for requiring records or refusing certification was not challenged in these proceedings. The case concerned Cityjet’s argument that European law displaced that domestic basis.
The judge also found the application was filed 13 months after the March 2004 decision, outside the time limit for judicial review. He was not satisfied there was good reason to extend the deadline. The ruling addresses the challenge to the Authority’s decision and does not grant the declaration Cityjet sought.