Aircraft registry
A bill and accompanying regulations that officials hope will allow
the territory’s aircraft registry to grow and provide government with additional revenue came into force last week, according to the Gazette. The Mortgaging of Aircraft and Aircraft Engines Act 2011, and the Mortgaging of Aircraft and Aircraft Engines Regulation 2012 both took effect on Oct. 15. The laws are intended to expand the Virgin Islands’ aircraft registry, which has existed for more than 40 years but has so far been limited to a handful of locally used aircraft. According to international rules, all aircraft, their engines and their mortgages must be officially listed with a country’s or territory’s registry. An update to the registry’s rules was needed, legislators said during a House of Assembly debate in May, because the complexity of aircraft financing has increased significantly in recent decades. The new laws created separate registries for aircraft, their engines and their mortgages.
Andrew St. Hilaire, who formerly acted as the territory’s director of civil aviation, said in a May interview that maximising the VI registry’s attractiveness to foreign aircraft owners will take more than just the new laws. In order to achieve “category one” status under the United States Federal Aviation Administration’s rules — a distinction that will allow VI-registered aircraft to take off and land in the US — the VI will have to have trained air safety regulators on the ground. Department of Civil Aviation staff are being trained by Air Safety Support International, the territory’s current regulator, Mr. St. Hilaire said at the time.
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