Civil Aviation Act 2012

10 Operator determinations

(1) The CAA may determine whether, in a particular case, a person has overall responsibility for the management of an airport area.

(2) A determination under subsection (1) is an “operator determination” for the purposes of this Part if the CAA states in the determination that it is made for the purposes of this section.

(3) If the CAA publishes a notice of an operator determination in respect of a person, the person is to be treated for the purposes of this Part as having or not having overall responsibility for the management of the airport area in accordance with the determination until the CAA publishes a notice withdrawing it.

(4) When making an operator determination in respect of a person, the CAA must have regard, in particular, to—

(a) regulations under section 9, and

(b) the extent to which the person controls or may control the matters listed in section 9(4).

(5) The CAA must make an operator determination in respect of a person and an area that consists of or forms part of a dominant airport if it is asked to do so by the person.

(6) Subsection (5) does not apply if—

(a) the CAA has previously made an operator determination to the effect that the person requesting the determination does or does not have overall responsibility for the management of the airport area,

(b) it has not published a notice withdrawing that determination, and

(c) it considers that there has not been a material change of circumstances since that determination.

(7) Subsection (5) does not apply if the CAA considers that it is possible to ascertain whether the person has overall responsibility for the management of the area from—

(a) information that is in the public domain, and

(b) information that is in the person’s custody or under the person’s control.

(8) The CAA may treat a request under subsection (5) in respect of an airport area (“area A”) as if it were—

(a) a number of requests in respect of a number of airport areas that consist of or include different parts of area A, or

(b) a request in respect of an area that includes all of area A.