Aviation Law
What makes our aviation lawyers different?
Aviation is an industry like no other. Successful airlines are dynamic, international, and competitive. At Oracle we take pride in providing a services that reflect these same qualities.
Dynamic – because Oracle scales and adapts to meet your needs at every stage of your growth and development. Our clients range from some of the world’s largest airlines with fleet sizes in the hundreds and billion-pound turnovers, to ambitious regional operators starting off with a handful of routes. Each requires a service tailored to their unique needs and resources.
International – because with expert aviation lawyers working in multiple jurisdictions across Europe under a unified leadership, Oracle has the reach and breadth of expertise to match our clients’ ambitions.
Competitive – because we’ve built our reputation on going the extra mile to win. We are never satisfied with “how things have always been done” – instead, we pioneer new and creative approaches to achieve our clients’ goals.
Our aviation lawyers
Oracle’s Aviation team brings a wealth of diverse talents together under one roof. Our aviation lawyers include experienced barristers who serve as in-house counsel, giving our clients the benefit of their expertise from the earliest stages of a case.
Our solicitors are dedicated aviation specialists, whose familiarity with the Aviation industry and its technical vocabulary makes close collaboration with our clients a smooth and easy process. Also, because Oracle operates as a cohesive whole and avoids a silo approach, the expertise of our Employment, Commercial and Personal Injury teams is always on hand to give our clients the very best advice and support.
Our aviation legal services
Our expert aviation legal team supports our clients’ needs across a full spectrum of aerospace legal work including:
- Passenger rights claims under Regulation EC 261/2004, the Montreal Convention or other consumer laws. This work encompasses everything from volume casework, where our scale and flexibility drives significant cost efficiencies while maintaining excellent quality, to strategic litigation aimed at improving case law or preventing exploitation of uncontested claims by profit-seeking claims management companies.
- Aircraft leasing, airport agreements and other contractual issues
- Tax affairs, including responding to national tax enquiries and defending “bundled” tax refund claims
- Personal injury
- Employment law
Aviation Litigation and dispute resolution including EU 261/2004 claims
Our aviation lawyers support our airline clients with their passenger rights claims under regulation EU 261/2004, the Montreal Convention or other consumer aviation laws.
This work encompasses everything including:
- volume casework, where our scale and flexibility drives significant cost efficiencies while maintaining excellent quality.
- strategic litigation aimed at improving case law or preventing exploitation of uncontested claims by profit-seeking claims management companies.
Aviation Regulation
Our aviation lawyers are experts in the regulatory framework unpinning the industry. We understand the nuances of aviation regulation and the impact on your business. Further, we have financial regulation expertise and the ability to help with financial investigations in aircraft financing.
We keep up to date with:
- Aviation regulations such as EU Air service regulation and IATA resolutions
- Aviation safety regulations
- Environmental regulations
- Tax regulations
- Consumer regulations
- Financial regulations
Aircraft leasing and financing
Our aviation lawyers support airline clients’ buying, selling or leasing aircraft. We are experts in handling complex transactions and dealing with associated aircraft lease agreements.
If you require aircraft leasing or financing advice our aviation lawyers can help advise from initial strategy through to transaction. We provide support throughout the transaction mitigating risk whilst protecting your interests.
Our expertise include:
- drafting letters of intent
- reviewing or creating aircraft leasing agreements
- reviewing or creating aircraft sale agreements
- reviewing or creating aircraft purchase agreements
Commercial aviation
Our aviation lawyers help businesses across the aviation industry with commercial and corporate advice. We are experts in creation and reviewing of commercial aviation contracts.
If you need advice regarding your corporate structure, mergers and acquisitions, our aviation lawyers can help. We can advise on all areas of commercial aviation, including:
- shareholder agreements
- joint ventures
- Asset transfers
- Other commercial agreements
- Contract negotiation
- Terms and conditions
- Consumer rights policies
- Data protection policies
Aviation Employment Law
Our aviation employment lawyers provide advice and support to the aviation industry. Employment law is complex, and we support HR departments to resolve complicated employee disputes. Further, we draft and maintain aviation policies and employment contracts. We get to know your business try to add value to your team.
For more information see our employment page.
Aviation personal injury
Our aviation personal injury lawyers are specialists in air accidents. Should an individual be injured on a flight or in an airport, we can support you and your insurers to defend claims under the Montreal Convention.
Our team evaluate the claim, make recommendations, negotiate potential settlements and outline defence strategy.
FAQs
You should assess your commercial needs and future strategy when deciding whether to lease or buy an aircraft. It is essential that you conduct the appropriate due diligence from how the deal is structured to a thorough inspection of the aircraft.
Aircraft lease contracts are potential minefields for the lessee. They must be carefully drafted to ensure that changes in the lessee’s needs do not leave it exposed to unexpected and potentially crippling costs. Our lawyers have experience in handling aircraft lease disputes at the highest levels of the English court system.
We help clients to review the deal and suitability according to their commercial strategy.
There are three types of aircraft lease agreement:
- Wet lease agreement – the leasing company provides everything including: the aircraft, crew, maintenance of the aircraft and insurance.
- Dry lease agreement – is only leasing the aircraft itself.
- Damp lease agreement – is a mixture of the two. An airline decides what elements they need to lease based on their requirements.
Airlines are paying substantial amounts to compensate passengers under EU 261. Claims management companies and ‘no-win no-fee’ law firms offer support to passengers to claim compensation even when there is an arguable defence. But some airlines are paying out because of the difficulty of providing evidential proof of delay being caused by ‘extraordinary circumstances’. It is therefore important to rigorously defend spurious claims to deter claims management companies.
Yes, but with important changes. Under the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018, EU261 was transposed into UK law. However, the UK has amended its domesticated version of EU261, altering the scope of the Regulation as well as the compensation amounts. A recent consultation issued by the Department for Transport indicates that the UK Government is actively considering further significant changes. Our lawyers maintain up-to-the-minute current awareness of both versions of the Regulation and can assist you to tailor legal strategies accordingly
Harry Snook leads Oracle’s Aviation teams across multiple jurisdictions, ensuring that each of Oracle’s airline clients benefits from a consistently excellent legal service that is...
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Aviation House, 125 Kingsway
London WC2B NH
United Kingdom
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Our aviation lawyers can help:
- Airline companies
- Airports
- Charter operations
- Drones and drone operators
- Government Contractors
- Flight schools
- Fixed Operations (FBO)
- General Aviation
- Helicopter operations
- Industrial aid or business operations
- International operations
- Manufacturers of aeronautical or aviation related products
