CJEU: a Member State must not require an air carrier licensed in another Member State to obtain permission to enter its airspace

International Jet Management, an airline company with its seat in Austria, operated private flights from Moscow and Ankara to Germany without having the authorisation, required by the German legislation, to enter German airspace. In criminal proceedings against International Jet Management,the German Apellate Court (Oberlandesgericht Braunschweig) filed a request for preliminary ruling of the Court of Justice of the European Union.In its judgement of March 18, 2014, the Grand Chamber of the Court came to the following conclusion:Article18 TFEU – whichenshrines the general principle of non-discrimination on grounds of nationality – applies toa situation such as that at issue andmust be interpreted as precluding legislation of a first Member State which requires, on pain of a fine, an air carrier holding an operating licence issued by a second Member State to obtain an authorisation to enter the airspace of the first Member State to operate private flights in non-scheduled traffic from a third country to that first Member State, although such an authorisation is not required for air carriers holding an operating licence issued by that first Member State, and which makes the grant of that authorisation subject to production of a declaration confirming that the air carriers holding an operating licence issued by that first Member State are either not willing to operate those flights or are prevented from operating them.Find full text of CJEU judgement of March 18, 2014 in caseC‑628/11 -International Jet Management here>>.

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