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& Ince, in any case

09-03-2022 / Aviation & Travel

It is a difficult fact of life that crises such as the present one in Ukraine cause not only human losses and suffering of the most grievous kind, but also extreme challenges for commercial entities and sectors, and their insurers. Recent events have demonstrated yet again how crucial insurance is to all commercial operations, none more so than the Aviation, Aerospace and Space sectors. It is a sign of the current challenging geopolitical landscape that we expect certain market clauses will come under scrutiny again after many years without disputes.

06-01-2021 / Aviation & Travel

Alex Rogan looks at the maiden flight of the restructuring plan, highlighting the practical considerations for future cases.

18-09-2020 / Aviation & Travel

We are pleased to have been featured in the September issue of the Asian Legal Business Magazine.

27-08-2020 / Aviation & Travel

Drone detection technologies have been a blind spot for most governments across the world, and it gains significance in the current times considering that drones are now being used for commercial purposes.

13-08-2020 / Aviation & Travel

Unmanned Aircraft Systems / Vehicles (UAS UAV - or Drones, as they are commonly known) refer primarily to an unmanned aircraft which is guided by a remote control.

04-06-2020 / Aviation & Travel

Setting aside our aspersions on the manner in which domestic air travel was recommenced in India – by way of a tweet by the aviation minister catching the airlines unawares - the government’s decision to “control” the ticket prices, at least in the short term (3 months), is, I feel, a masterstroke.

06-03-2020 / Aviation & Travel

Impact The COVID-19 outbreak has already had a severe impact on the aviation sector. “Air traffic has collapsed on key Asian routes and it is rippling throughout the air transport network globally, even between countries without major outbreaks of COVID-19.”[1] Flybe yesterday announced its collapse, in part it says due to the effect of coronavirus upon bookings. Airlines are experiencing a serious decline in demand: “one carrier has taken a 26% reduction in passenger numbers across its entire operation and a major carrier has reported booking to Italy collapsing to zero with customers demanding refunds. Many carriers are reporting 50% no-shows across several markets, future bookings are softening and carriers are reacting with flight cancellation, crew being given unpaid leave, freezing of pay increases and plans for aircraft to be grounded.”[2]

04-06-2018 / Aviation & Travel, Commodities & Trade, Energy & Infrastructure, Insurance, Maritime

Qatar Sanctions: the Anniversary 5 June 2018 marks the one year anniversary of “sanctions” against Qatar introduced by UAE, KSA, Bahrain, Egypt and a number of other nations.

23-04-2018 / Aviation & Travel

Only a few years ago, many people had never seen or even heard of a drone. Today, in many major cities around the world, it would be an achievement to get through the week without seeing at least one. This is particularly true in Dubai. The UAE is striving to become a world leader in the use and development of drone technology: from the expectation that within the next few years taxi-drones will be operational within the city to the Drones for Good Awards launched by the office of H.H. Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai to reward drone initiatives aimed at improving people’s lives.

05-04-2018 / Aviation & Travel

By the nature of its business, the aviation sector collects and has access to a huge amount of personal data. Airlines, airports and their service providers routinely hold and process passenger information, crew and employee details, customer lists and details of business contacts.

05-02-2018 / Aviation & Travel

The last quarter of 2017 heralded a new era of fully and semi-automated delivery vehicles, the most celebrated of which was the Tesla semi-truck; an all-electric semi-truck design that can run on batteries alone1. In the same period, Uber acquired Otto (a self-driving truck start up) and successfully delivered over 50,000 cans of Budweiser beer over a 120-mile journey in October in what was dubbed as the completion of the world’s first shipment by a self-driving truck2. Closer to Hong Kong, Jingdong, a Chinese e-commerce company, launched an unmanned light van, EV80, and began road testing in September3.

30-01-2018 / Aviation & Travel

Ince & Co has received the 'Deal of the Year' award from China Business Law Journal for acting as lead counsel to The Export-Import Bank of China (“CEXIM”) in the financing of two Airbus A380 aircraft. The selection was based on a number of factors including overall significance, regulatory complexity, legal innovation and deal size. The results were released in the January 2018 issue of the China Business Law Journal.

08-01-2018 / Aviation & Travel, Maritime

Ince & Co is pleased to announce the promotion of Aymeric de Tapol to partner in its Paris office

11-10-2017 / Aviation & Travel

CEXIM's financing of two Airbus A380 aircraft, on which Ince Co acted as lead transaction counsel, has been awarded China Aviation Deal of the Year 2017 for Financing Innovation at the 6th China Air Finance Awards Ceremony in Tianjin The transaction was a USD450M financing for Minsheng Financial Leasing (MSFL) as lessor of two A380-800 aircraft on finance lease to Korea's Asiana Airlines

21-07-2017 / Aviation & Travel, Insurance, Maritime

The 2017 edition of the Legal 500 Paris guide highlighted four areas of activity of Ince Co France The firm is ranked in Maritime Law and Transport, Marine Financing, Aircraft Financing and Insurance

21-07-2017 / Aviation & Travel, Insurance, Maritime

L'dition 2017 du guide Legal 500 Paris a mis cette anne en lumire 4 domaines d'activit d'Ince Co France Le cabinet est class en droit maritime et des transports, en financement maritime, en financement arien et en assurances

07-07-2017 / Aviation & Travel, Energy & Infrastructure

Since diplomatic ties were severed between the UAE and Qatar, we have received various queries regarding how this impacts our clients’ businesses. We have collated the most commonly asked questions and answers below, as well as some points to bear in mind, to provide a handy reference point as first port of call in case any queries relating to the Qatar situation arise.  Please note that, as this is a live situation, the information below is correct as of 5 July 2017. We will update this Q&A as and when needed.

04-07-2017 / Aviation & Travel

On June 15th our Aviation Finance Group successfully closed a major aviation financing representing The Export-Import Bank of China (CEXIM), a state-owned policy bank of the Chinese government The transaction is a USD450M financing for Minsheng Financial Leasing (MSFL) as lessor of two A380-800 aircraft on finance lease to Korea's Asiana Airlines

23-06-2017 / Aviation & Travel

On 22 June Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the UAE and Bahrain issued a stringent list of demands to Qatar. These were presented to Qatar by Kuwait, acting as a mediator. It is reported that Qatar must meet these 13 demands in order for the “sanctions” to be lifted.

19-06-2017 / Aviation & Travel

Nogueria v Crewlink Limited and Moreno Osacar v RyanairnbspOpinion of the European Court of Justice 27 April 2017Due to the nature of work in the aviation sector employees will regularly work in multiple Member StatesnbspThis creates complexity in respect of both choice of law and jurisdictionnbspIn this recent Ryanair case the European Court of Justice was asked to rule on the interpretation of the concept of the place where the employee habitually carries out his work taking into account principles from both the Rome Regulation governing choice of law and the Brussels Regulation governing jurisdiction

06-06-2017 / Aviation & Travel, Commodities & Trade, Maritime

On 5 June 2017, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Egypt severed tied with Qatar and required the closure of land, sea and air borders Since then a number of other countries have also joined these states in adopting such measures The reason for these measures is stated to be the belief that Qatar has been supporting extremist groups and has not complied with the Riyadh Agreement of 2014

15-05-2017 / Cyber Security, Aviation & Travel, Energy & Infrastructure, Insurance, Commodities & Trade, Maritime

Whilst the reaction from both mainstream and social media was one of shock at the extent of this weekend's global cyber-attack, for those working within cyber-security it came as little surprise

07-03-2017 / Aviation & Travel

Do airline rostering arrangements fall within the scope of statutory collective bargaining This question was recently considered by the Court of Appeal in British Airline Pilots' Association v Jet2com Limited

04-08-2016 / Aviation & Travel

The “Open Skies” agreement of 2007 between the EU and the USA permits carriers from both parties to operate air services between any point in the USA to any point in the EU (and vice versa). When the UK withdraws from the EU, British carriers will no longer benefit from the Open Skies agreement, which is likely to have far-reaching effects. After the UK exit, services between the USA and the UK will be subject to whatever bilateral air services agreement exists between the two countries. Access to Heathrow was a particular demand by the US during the Open Skies negotiations and it remains to be seen how the USA and the UK will regulate reciprocal rights for their carriers after Brexit.

04-08-2016 / Aviation & Travel

The UK’s overseas dependencies includes certain territories with important roles in the aviation industry. One example is the Cayman Islands, with special fiscal arrangements which are used for the financing of commercial aircraft.

04-08-2016 / Aviation & Travel

The UK’s referendum vote to leave the European Union is likely to have a far-reaching impact on the UK aviation industry. From a constitutional standpoint, the “Brexit” referendum is considered an expression of the electorate’s opinion; it is not by itself legally binding. Nevertheless, the ruling Conservative government has committed itself politically to put it into practice and to set in motion the process for the UK to withdraw from membership of the EU.

04-08-2016 / Aviation & Travel

*We are grateful to our colleague Dr Laurent Chassot of gbf Attorneys-at-law (Geneva) for his valuable contribution to this article The situation of Switzerland in relation to the EU is instructive as it illustrates the consequences that might arise for UK carriers if a Swiss type/EFTA arrangement was established.

04-08-2016 / Aviation & Travel

The EU has produced a large body of regulations affecting the aviation industry, including rules concerning workers’ rights, data protection, competition law, safety, security, environmental protection, airline insolvency. and passenger rights.

04-08-2016 / Aviation & Travel

One solution for a UK carrier would be to restructure operations so as to meet the conditions of Regulation 1008. This would involve changes to the location of the airline’s principal place of business from the UK to a place in the EU and changes of its ownership structure to ensure that more than 50% of effective control is held by EU nationals.

04-08-2016 / Aviation & Travel

Under EU Parliament and Council Regulation 1008/2008 (“Regulation 1008”) no undertaking established in the Community is permitted to carry by air passengers, mail, and/or cargo for remuneration and or/hire unless it has been granted an operating licence. It confers the status of “Community carrier” to any airline that meets the conditions of the Regulation, which include:

15-04-2016 / Aviation & Travel

On the morning of 22 March 2016, three coordinated nail bombings occurred in Belgium: two at Brussels Airport in Zaventem; and one at Maalbeek metro station in Brussels. 32 people were murdered and over 300 people were injured. Another bomb was found during a search of the airport. The attacks were the deadliest act of terrorism in Belgium’s history. The airport remained closed until Sunday 3 April.

11-04-2016 / Aviation & Travel

The attack at Brussels Airport on 22 March reminded us all that although from a security standpoint, airports are among the most regulated and controlled public spaces in the world, terrorist attacks can still occur. Aviation-specific security regulations such as Regulation (EC) 300/2008 focus on airside spaces, the non-public spaces of airports accessible only to air passengers who hold a valid boarding pass. These regulations are designed to prevent unlawful interference with air transport – a prominent target of terrorists for several decades. Since 2001, these aviation specific regulations have been harmonised and coordinated at EU level.

08-04-2016 / Aviation & Travel

We recently highlighted that from 6 April 2016 all English companies and limited liability partnerships will be required to keep a register of every person with significant control (PSC) over them, save in the case of several narrow exceptions. 

10-06-2014 / Aviation & Travel

Recent Court ruling on the admissibility of AAIB reports as evidence. If an aircraft is involved in an accident or incident it is unsurprising that all concerned, and others, want to know what went wrong.

26-03-2013 / Aviation & Travel

Taking a tenancy of airport real estate may at first appear little different to leasing any other type of commercial property. However, the operational requirements of a company wishing to take space at an airport need to be thought through carefully; simply using “standard” documentation that would be suitable for warehouse or office premises in other locations may expose a tenant to unexpected factors unique to an airport environment.