Foreign Charter, Cabotage and Crew Licensing Across the Torres Strait
An Australian Part 135 operator's Beechcraft B200, VH-XYZ, is chartered by a PNG mining company for a two-week programme. The pattern is Cairns–Port Moresby with eight passengers, then Port Moresby–Tabubil with eight passengers, Tabubil–Port Moresby, and the return Port Moresby–Cairns. The aircraft is Australian-registered and maintained under the Australian operator's approved maintenance programme; its Australian AOC does not include PNG domestic operations. Both pilots hold Australian commercial licences with instrument ratings; neither holds a PNG licence or a PNG validation. The company's PNG agent says: 'The Chicago Convention gives freedom of the air, and PNG has no airline of its own to Tabubil, so it's fine.' CASA PNG asks to see the paperwork before week two, and a PNG domestic operator complains about cabotage.
1. Which sectors may lawfully be flown, and what authorisations does each require?
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Separate the international sectors from the domestic ones; they are governed by different articles and different PNG permissions.
Cairns–Port Moresby and Port Moresby–Cairns. These are international flights. Under Article 5 of the Chicago Convention, non-scheduled flights may be operated into or across the territory of another State, but the State has the right to require special permission for carriage for hire or reward, and to impose conditions. Under Article 6, scheduled air services require special permission. A charter carrying eight passengers for reward will therefore need PNG's operating permission - typically a foreign operator's authorisation or charter permit, with conditions on the number of seats offered to the public, insurance, security and dangerous goods compliance and crew licensing. The Australian AOC authorises the international sector; the PNG permission authorises entry and operation within PNG.
Port Moresby–Tabubil and Tabubil–Port Moresby. These are domestic flights within PNG. Article 7 reserves cabotage: each State may refuse permission to foreign aircraft to take on or discharge traffic for hire or reward between two points within its territory. PNG, like almost every State, has reserved domestic traffic to its own operators. Carrying mining personnel Port Moresby–Tabubil for reward is cabotage, and it is not curable by a permit for the international sectors. It would require a PNG air operator certificate under the applicable Part 119/135 rules, which a foreign operator will not hold.
The agent's argument fails twice. 'Freedom of the air' is not a general right to trade domestically, and the absence of a PNG carrier on the route is irrelevant - it might support a policy argument for a temporary exemption, but it does not create a legal right.
2. What does the Convention say about the licences and the aircraft's papers, and does PNG have to accept them?
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Crew licensing - Article 32. Each State undertakes to ensure that personnel flying aircraft registered in its territory hold appropriate licences, and to render its licensing rules at least equal to ICAO standards. The Australian CPLs and instrument ratings are properly issued by the State of Registry, and for the international sectors PNG's starting position is to accept them.
Recognition of certificates - Article 33. Certificates of airworthiness and certificates of competency and licences issued by the State of Registry must be recognised as valid by other States, provided they were issued or validated under requirements equal to or above the ICAO minimum standards. If PNG has evidence that the Australian standards fall below, or that a particular licence is not valid, it may refuse recognition.
But recognition is not permission. Article 33 does not entitle the crew to conduct domestic commercial operations in PNG. PNG's licensing rules require a PNG licence or a validation for flight crew engaged in PNG domestic operations, and PNG may impose conditions on foreign crews operating within its territory. For the domestic sectors, a validation would be needed in addition to the AOC problem described above.
Aircraft papers. Article 29 requires the journey log, registration certificate, certificate of airworthiness, licences, radio station licence and passenger list to be carried. Article 30 covers the radio licensing of the aircraft.
Practical point. The aircraft's Australian maintenance programme is acceptable only while the aircraft remains under Australian regulatory oversight. Once it is proposed to operate it commercially inside PNG, PNG can require evidence that maintenance and continuing airworthiness oversight actually follow the aircraft.
3. What should the operator do to make the programme lawful, and what are the risks of proceeding as planned?
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Restructure. The clean solution is to split the operation: the Australian operator flies the Cairns–Port Moresby sectors under a PNG foreign operator's permission, and the mining company contracts a PNG Part 119/135 certificate holder for Port Moresby–Tabubil, either as a separate charter or as a sub-charter under that operator's AOC. The alternative is to seek a specific exemption or authorisation from the PNG authority for the domestic sectors - possible, but it must be granted in writing before the flights, and it will not be given on the basis that 'there is no other carrier'.
Paperwork to assemble for the international sectors. The Australian AOC and operations specifications; the certificate of registration and airworthiness; the maintenance arrangements and AD status; crew licences, medicals and recency; insurance evidence covering PNG territory and the specific use; security and dangerous goods arrangements; and the PNG operating permission showing the approved route, aerodromes and conditions.
Risks of proceeding as planned. The domestic sectors are unlawful carriage and expose the operator to enforcement action, detention of the aircraft, licence action against the crew, and - the most expensive consequence - an insurer's refusal to indemnify for an illegal act. There is also a safety-oversight gap: the PNG regulator has no visibility of an operator running domestic sectors that it never authorised, which is exactly the situation the cabotage rule exists to prevent.
Answer the regulator fully. CASA PNG's request for paperwork before week two should be met with the true position: international sectors authorised, domestic sectors not yet and not yet flown. Concealment converts a permissions problem into a serious enforcement matter.