Kazakhstan’s airlines may now register their aircraft in Bermuda

The majority of aircraft operated by Kazakhstan’s airlines are registered outside the country, currently mostly under Aruba’s P4- prefix (Georgy Bovtik)

The Aviation Administration of Kazakhstan (AAK) and the Bermuda Civil Aviation Authority (BCAA) have signed an ICAO 83bis Agreement contract, which allows Kazakhstan’s airlines to place their aircraft on the Bermuda Aviation Register (VP/VQ- registration numbers).

The agreement is said to be “beneficial to both parties,” according to Thomas Dunstan, director general of BCAA. “For operators and lessors of aircraft in Kazakhstan, registering an aircraft in Bermuda reduces the cost of safety supervision and, consequently, the cost of operating their aircraft.”

Offshore aircraft registrations are not a new phenomenon for Kazakh airlines. As of today, the majority of the fleet operated in the country is registered in Aruba (P4- tail numbers) – in an agreement for the transfer of aircraft safety oversight functions that was originally signed in 2003. AAK has revealed to Russian Aviation Insider that that it is also considering a similar arrangement with the San Marino authorities (T7- ).

Currently, the Bermudan aircraft registry is among the most popular with Russian airlines. It is the tenth largest roster among 193 ICAO members and has more than 800 aircraft registered under the 83bis provision.

NATIONAL REGISTRY

Kazakhstan has its own national register (UP- ) but when asked about its promotion strategy, AAK assured Russian Aviation Insider that, taking into account the costs, terms and support options, currently “the role of administration is to enable the country’s operators to choose the most convenient conditions for aircraft maintenance.” At the same time, Kazakhstan’s authorities point out that eventually making the national register a more preferred option is “one of the priorities” – which is part of a larger scale strategy for the long term development of the country’s commercial aviation industry.

“We are currently elaborating a new system for managing the databases,” AAK has revealed.

By Evgeniya Kolyada