Aircraft operators

Scope of application

Regulation (EU) 2023/2405 ‘ReFuelEU Aviation’ (RFEUA) applies to aircraft operators that run at least 500 commercial passenger flights or at least 52 cargo-only commercial air transport flights each year from Union airports (Art. 3.3 RFEUA). In Switzerland, this applies to Geneva and Zurich airports. In accordance with Article 3.4 RFEUA, commercial air transport flights are defined as flights operated in order to transport passengers, freight or post for remuneration, including business flights operated for commercial purposes.
The relevant aircraft operators are determined annually by the European Commission based on data from the previous year. The link to the published list can be found under Further information > Links.

Duties

Aircraft operators that fall under the scope of Article 3.3 RFEUA have a refuelling obligation under Article 5 RFEUA. The annual quantity of aviation fuel refuelled at Zurich and Geneva airports must cover at least 90 per cent of the aircraft operator’s annual aviation fuel consumption (Art. 5.1 RFEUA). Under Article 5.1 RFEUA, an aircraft operator may fall below this threshold if this is necessary to comply with fuel safety requirements. The details and obligations relating to this are regulated in Article 5.2 and 5.3 RFEUA.

Reporting

In accordance with Article 8 RFEUA, reports must be submitted to the Federal Office of Civil Aviation (FOCA) and the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) by 31 March of each reporting year. As stipulated in Article 3.22 RFEUA, the reporting year runs from 1 January to 31 December. The report must be submitted in accordance with the samples in Annex II to Regulation (EU) 2023/2405 ‘ReFuelEU Aviation’.
The reporting obligation includes reporting in the EASA Sustainability Portal and verification of the report by an independent verifier, as set out in Article 8 paragraph 3 RFEUA.