AMC & GM to Part-ORO — Issue 2, Amendment 27

Acceptable Means of Compliance and Guidance Material to Annex III (Part-ORO) to Regulation (EU) No 965/2012 — Issue 2, Amendment 27

Annex II to ED Decision 2025/008/R ‘AMC & GM to Part-ORO — Issue 2, Amendment 27’

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AMC3 ORO.GEN.110(f) Operator responsibilities

TURNAROUND COORDINATION

(a) Turnaround coordination refers to the coordination of one or more ground handling activities, which may be performed by one or more providers of ground handling services, during the aircraft turnaround. The goal is to complete the ground handling task(s) efficiently and within a set time frame to ensure the aircraft can depart on schedule. (b) The operator should establish a turnaround plan for its aircraft and agree with the ground handling organisation on the organisation’s roles and responsibilities during the turnaround to ensure that the organisation coordinates the aircraft turnaround activities in accordance with that plan.

GM5 ORO.GEN.200(a)(3) Management system

INTERFACES WITH GROUND HANDLING ORGANISATIONS AND AERODROME OPERATORS

When identifying aviation safety hazards posed by its activities, the operator could consider various interfaces with ground handling organisations and aerodrome operators and clarify the responsibilities of every party and function involved. Other stakeholders may be involved, depending on the contracted services. Once the interfaces have been recognised, the operator could consider the critical nature of each interface, identify any hazards related to the interface and carry out joint hazard analyses and risk assessments. While each organisation is responsible for identifying and managing hazards that affect it, operational safety benefits can be achieved through the enhancement of safety as a result of shared ownership of safety risks. It is recommended that the aircraft operator uses the guidelines for establishing operational interfaces provided in the Manual on Ground Handling (ICAO Doc 10121), particularly Chapter 6 thereof.

AMC1 ORO.GEN.205 Contracted activities

RESPONSIBILITY WHEN CONTRACTING ACTIVITIES

(a) The operator may decide to contract certain activities to external organisations. (b) A written agreement should exist between the operator and the contracted organisation clearly defining the contracted activities, accountability for safety and authority, and the applicable requirements. In the case of ad hoc operations carried out without a prior ground handling agreement, ground handling services may be provided at short notice by the operator or the commander/pilot-in-command. (c) The contracted safety-related activities relevant to the agreement should be included in the operator’s safety management and compliance monitoring programmes.

(d) The operator should ensure that the contracted organisation has the necessary authorisation or approval when required, or that a ground handling organisation contracted to provide services at an EU aerodrome within the scope of Regulation (EU) 2018/1139 operates under a declaration, and commands the resources and competence to undertake the activitiestask.

AMC3 ORO.GEN.205 Contracted activities

GROUND HANDLING SERVICES

When contracting a ground handling organisation that has declared its activities in accordance with Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2025/20, the operator should adopt a risk-based approach to comply with the requirements of point ORO.GEN.205.

GM1 ORO.GEN.205 Contracted activities

CONTRACTING — GENERAL

(a) Operators may decide to contract certain activities to external organisations for the provision of services related to areas such as: (1) ground de-icing/anti-icing; (2) ground handling, including but not limited to ground de-/anti-icing, fuelling, toilet and potable water services, aircraft cleaning and catering; (23) flight support (including performance calculations, flight planning, navigation database and dispatch); (34) training; and (45) manual preparation. (b) Contracted activities include all activities within the operator’s scope of approval that are performed by another organisation either itself certified, orauthorised or covered by a declaration to carry out such activity or, if not certified, orauthorised or declaring its activity, working under the operator’s approval. (c) The ultimate responsibility for the product or service provided by external organisations should always remains with the operator. (d) Without affecting point (c), a ground handling organisation providing services to an operator is not exonerated from its own accountability and responsibility for the safe provision of ground handling services in compliance with the requirements of Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2025/20.

GM2 ORO.GEN.205 Contracted activities

RESPONSIBILITY WHEN CONTRACTING ACTIVITIES

(a) Regardless of the approval status of the contracted organisation, the contracting operator is responsible for ensuring that all contracted activities are subject to hazard identification and risk management, as required by point ORO.GEN.200(a)(3), and to compliance monitoring, as required by point ORO.GEN.200(a)(6). (b) When the contracted organisation is itself certified or authorised to carry out the contracted activities, the operator’s compliance monitoring should at least check that the approval of the operator referred to in point ORO.GEN.205(b) effectively covers the contracted activities and that it is still valid. (c) The risk-based approach of the operator regarding compliance monitoring of ground handling services provided by a third-party ground handling organisation referred to in AMC3 ORO.GEN.205 means that the scope and frequency of monitoring activities can be reduced and can focus on safety and operational issues, and the review of relevant reported occurrences and performance. The operator can take into account the results of the following verification methods: (1) oversight performed by the competent authority of the ground handling organisation in accordance with Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2025/23, (2) industry audit programmes performed by other third parties on behalf of the operator, (3) industry audit programmes performed by the aerodrome operator, (4) industry audits performed by independent third parties for the purpose of the ground handling organisation’s compliance monitoring process, (5) continued monitoring carried out by representatives of the operator at the aerodrome, as applicable.

GM1 ORO.GEN.315 Operational procedures for ground handling

ADDITIONAL GUIDANCE

Additional guidance on ground handling operational procedures can be found in the EASA Decision containing the AMC and GM to Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2025/20 and in Appendix A to ICAO Doc 10121, Manual on Ground Handling.

AMC1 ORO.GEN.315(b);(c) Operational procedures for ground handling

INSTRUCTIONS AND PROCEDURES FOR GROUND HANDLING SERVICES

When contracting ground handling services to a third-party ground handling organisation, the operator should ensure either of the following:

(a) The operator provides ground handling instructions and procedures to the ground handling organisation. If both the operator and the ground handling organisation apply the same industry standards or good practices, the operator should: (1) aim at reducing the differences between its own GH operating procedures and those industry standards and good practices by conducting a safety risk assessment of those differences. The purpose of such an assessment is to evaluate whether those differences provide a higher level of safety than those industry standards or best practices; (2) specify any safety-related exceptions or deviations from the industry standards and good practices in the instructions and procedures. (b) When the operator is unable to provide its own instructions and procedures to the ground handling organisation: (1) at aerodromes in the scope of Regulation (EU) 2018/1139, the ground handling organisation provides those services in accordance with Regulation (EU) 2025/20; (2) at aerodromes outside the scope of Regulation (EU) 2018/1139, the ground handling organisation provides those services in accordance with the relevant industry standards and good practices, as agreed with the operator.

AMC1 ORO.GEN.315(b) Operational procedures for ground handling

INFORMATION ON THE TRANSPORT OF PASSENGERS WITH REDUCED MOBILITY AND THEIR MOBILITY DEVICES

For the ground handling of passengers with reduced mobility and their mobility devices, the operator should do the following: (a) publish applicable restrictions on the carriage of mobility devices, including electrical ones; (b) provide means to receive information from passengers, either directly or indirectly, about any requirements for passenger assistance, including on the transport of their mobility device and the type of device; (c) establish procedures to address the following risk areas: (1) communication of safety-relevant information related to the transport of passengers requiring assistance and their mobility devices to the contracted ground handling organisations at the aerodrome, to facilitate the packing and loading of the mobility device for safe transport, as applicable, in accordance with the ICAO Technical Instructions; (2) aircraft mass and balance and any loading limitations that apply; (d) use appropriate masses for the mobility devices when preparing the mass and balance and load control documentation and comply with load-spreading requirements; (e) include instructions in its operations manual, as applicable, for passenger acceptance, load control, boarding and disembarkation, and aircraft loading.

GM1 ORO.GEN.315(c)(3) Operational procedures for ground handling

USE OF OPERATIONAL PROCEDURES OF THE GROUND HANDLING ORGANISATION

The following are non-exhaustive examples of cases in which the operator is unable to provide its operational procedures for ground handling to the ground handling organisation, while still being compliant with the requirements of Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2025/24 amending Commission Regulation (EU) No 965/2012: (a) when the operator is an NCO operator, as it is not mandatory for NCO operators to have operational procedures for ground handling; (b) when landing takes place at an alternate aerodrome, where the ground handling service provider does not have the operator’s operational procedures for the provision of ground handling services; (c) when an emergency landing takes place at any aerodrome that is not included among the operator’s regular or alternate aerodromes of operation; (d) when there is a change in the operational flight plan during flight, as may often be the case for non-commercial operators.

GM2 ORO.AOC.135(a) Personnel requirements

COMPETENCE OF NOMINATED PERSONS

[…] (e) Ground operations. The nominated person should have a thorough knowledge of the AOC holder’s ground operations concept and be familiar with the requirements of Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2025/20 applicable to their operations.

AMC3 ORO.MLR.100 Operations manual — general

CONTENTS – CAT OPERATIONS

[…] D TRAINING […] 2.5 for operations personnel other than crew members (e.g. flight dispatcher, ground handling personnel, etc.), all other relevant items prescribed in Annex IV (Part-CAT) and in this Annex pertaining to their duties. […]