Yes, it’s now 2hrs before departure.
You can now use a GAR to fly to/from literally anywhere in the UK, including any sort of farm strip or private site. As part of tidying up the arrangements post-Brexit, Border Force have issued a blanket interim Certificate of Agreement that covers all airfields of any sort (below the ones that are C&I designated, which don’t need it anyway) and allows flight with a GAR to/from anywhere. It runs until 31 Dec 2023, by which time airfields are expected to have their own individual certificates of agreement in place.
It has greatly improved things for travel to from the Channel Islands, Northern Ireland and Ireland itself. Previously you needed a Certificate of Agreement airfield for this, which in practice meant somewhere with a manned office/desk during published opening hours, e.g. White Waltham was one, but Enstone was not. It basically ruled out unattended airfields and strips. Now under the interim arrangements everything is, for the next 18 months, promoted into this Certificate of Agreement category.
The relevant publication is poorly drafted and open to interpretation (of course) but I have my interpretation above (any airfield, good for anywhere) confirmed in writing by Border Force. SkyDemon had interpreted it incorrectly and were warning users when they planned certain routes that the flight was ‘Not Permitted by UK Border Force’. I have raised it with them – they got the same confirmation from Border Force and have updated the software to remove these warnings.
The confirmation I received:
Good afternoon,
Apologies in delay in responding, your email has been passed to us by colleagues in HMRC to respond to.
1. Yes we can confirm that the interim blanket approval to 31st December 2023, covers all airfields.
2. Yes that blanket approval permits flights to and from the Channel islands.
Kind regards
National Operations General Aviation Team
National Operational Headquarters | 10th Floor | Apollo House | Wellesley Road | Croydon | CR9 3RR
Graham wrote:
It has greatly improved things for travel to from the Channel Islands, Northern Ireland and Ireland itself. Previously you needed a Certificate of Agreement airfield for this
Slight correction on that. Previously you did not need a CoA for NI or Rep of Ireland. You did for the Channel Islands as they was outside the EU.
dublinpilot wrote:
Slight correction on that. Previously you did not need a CoA for NI or Rep of Ireland. You did for the Channel Islands as they was outside the EU.
Thanks, my mistake. I thought they needed at CofA due to being CTA, but actually it was the longer notice period (12hrs) that they had in common (and still do, so I suppose another correction to my note above) with the Channel Islands.
Thanks for the update. That really clarified it to me.
