Scope of Work
Few sectors are as intricately regulated as aviation. International conventions, from Chicago to Montreal and Cape Town, intersect with UAE federal legislation and the regulations of the General Civil Aviation Authority, while the interests of operator, lessor, financier and insurer converge on a single asset that is, by its nature, borderless. Working in this field demands command of both systems at once: the treaty framework, and its application within the UAE.
We advise and represent air carriers, lessors, financiers, cargo agents, ground-services providers and private aircraft operators at every stage of a matter: from structuring a transaction, drafting its documents and negotiating its terms, to managing the dispute when it arises, before the courts, or through settlement and arbitration.
Because an aircraft recognises no borders, we attend in every matter to the international dimension: the effect of international interests registered under the Cape Town Convention, the liability regime of the Montreal Convention, and the allocation of jurisdiction between legal systems, so that our client stands on firm legal ground wherever the asset flies, and wherever the claim lands.
What We Do
- Aircraft registration and deregistration on the UAE register, including international interests under the Cape Town Convention and irrevocable deregistration and export request authorisations (IDERA).
- Structuring, drafting and negotiating aircraft financing and leasing, operating and finance leases, wet and dry leases, and sale-and-leaseback transactions.
- Preparing, reviewing and negotiating operating, codeshare and interline agreements between carriers.
- Air cargo, passenger and baggage claims under the Montreal Convention 1999 and the associated liability regimes, for claimants and defendants alike.
- Regulatory compliance before the General Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA): licences, approvals, operating requirements and airworthiness.
- Licensing of drones and unmanned aircraft systems, and advice on the requirements for their commercial operation.
- Maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) contracts, engine support and spare-parts supply agreements.
- Airport services, ground handling, fuelling and catering agreements.
- Aircraft repossession and enforcement of security on default, and the management of leasing and financing disputes through negotiation and litigation.
Our Approach
We begin where serious legal work must begin: with research. Before any opinion or submission, we settle the international text, the local statute and the regulatory rule, then place before the client a candid assessment of the position, strengths and weaknesses together, rather than a bright promise of outcome. Advice that spares the client the truth is worth nothing on the day the file reaches a judge or an arbitrator.
And we work in both of the sector's languages: contracts, submissions and correspondence in Arabic and English, to the same standard of precision, because an aviation matter rarely stays within one language: a lessor in one capital, an operator in another, and a regulator between them.