Journey
Set up an air transport business
Learning path for new air transport operators — passenger airlines, cargo carriers and spaceflight operators. Work out which rules apply, put a safe operation and your employment duties in place, get your aviation and spaceflight licences and certificates, and verify everything with a compliance checklist.
What this journey is for
Air transport is one of the most heavily licensed sectors in the UK. Two strands run in parallel from the start. They are keeping your people safe around aircraft, fuel, cargo and noise, and getting the sector-specific licences and certificates you need to operate. These include operating licences, air operator certificates, airworthiness, crew licensing, ATOL, passenger rights, dangerous goods and, if you operate in spaceflight, a separate statutory regime. This journey walks you through that path in the order you will live it, from working out which rules apply through to checking you have everything in place.
It does not give you the step-by-step instructions or the figures — those live in the guides it points to. This is the map: it tells you where you are, why each stage matters, and which guide to open next.
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Work out which regulations apply to you
Start by getting the picture right. Air transport combines an operation's workplace duties with a licensing regime that is among the strictest in any sector. Working out which rules apply first saves you from discovering a missed obligation late, when operations are already running and expensive to fix. This could be an operating licence condition, an airworthiness requirement or an ATOL obligation. Use the router guide to find your route before you commit to anything.
Which air transport regulations apply to your business
Work out which rules apply. A reference guide that routes you from the shared workplace and employment foundation to the aviation and spaceflight licensing regime.
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Put your safe-operation and employment foundations in place
Whatever you carry, these are the duties every air transport business shares. Risk-assess aircraft handling, ground movements, working at height, fuel handling and noise exposure, and carry out your fire risk assessment. Hold employers' liability insurance and meet your equality and data protection duties. Build this in from the start rather than retrofitting it.
Set up and run a safe air transport operation
The duties of running the operation and employing people — general health and safety, sector-specific hazards around aircraft, fuel, noise and height work, fire safety, employers' liability insurance, equality and data protection.
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Get your aviation and spaceflight licences and certificates
This is what sets air transport apart. You need a CAA operating licence and an air operator's certificate before you can carry passengers or freight commercially. Each aircraft must be airworthy with licensed crew. You may need an ATOL if you sell packages, and you must meet passenger rights and dangerous-goods requirements. If you operate in spaceflight, a separate licensing regime under the Space Industry Act 2018 applies. These licences shape your entire operation, so design them in early rather than bolting them on.
Get your aviation and spaceflight licences and certificates
The sector-specific licensing regime — operating licences, air operator certificates, airworthiness and crew licensing, ATOL, passenger rights (UK261), dangerous goods by air, spaceflight operator and spaceport licences, and spaceflight third-party liability.
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Verify you have covered everything
Once the moving parts are in motion, take a step back and check the whole picture holds together. A compliance checklist lets you confirm, in one place, that each obligation — workplace, licensing and certification — is genuinely met rather than assumed. Use it as your readiness review before your first commercial operation, and come back to it as your routes or fleet change.
Air transport: compliance checklist
Verify you have covered everything before your first commercial operation — the universal workplace and employment duties, and the aviation and spaceflight licensing obligations.
You will also need the general business set-up duties
Alongside the sector-specific path above, every air transport business carries general obligations that are not unique to aviation but are just as compulsory. As you build the business you will also need to:
- protect the people who work for you — meet your workplace health and safety duties, including the sector-specific hazards around aircraft handling, fuel and noise.
- hold employers' liability insurance once you take anyone on.
- handle personal data lawfully — you must pay the data protection fee to the ICO unless you are exempt.
- meet your fire safety duties for the premises you work from, which matter wherever you handle aviation fuel and cargo.
These general duties run in parallel with the sector path rather than after it, so set them up as you establish the business. The safe-operation spine and the compliance checklist bring the core duties together so you can confirm they are covered.
Where this leaves you
You now have the shape of the whole task. Work out which rules apply, put a safe operation and your employment duties in place, and get your aviation and spaceflight licences and certificates. Then verify the lot. Work the guides in order and you will have a clear, defensible position from your first commercial operation onwards.