What is it and why?

Since May 18, 2021, there has been a bilateral agreement between the two aviation superpowers, on the one hand the EASA and the FAA on the other one. This agreement is known as the BASA agreement, the acronym for:

Bilateral Aviation Safety Agreement

It was always known to us that many Europeans (actually EU residents, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, UK etc. not included) flew exclusively with FAA certificates in European airspace. Most of us had an FAA foreign based certificate on our EASA license (regardless of the degree of the EASA license, it was always limited to the privileges of an FAA-PPL certificate). An IR rating was usually added at a later phase. Some of us later went on to get a full stand-alone certificate in the US.

The news that FAA licensed could no longer enjoy their privileges in the EU is not new. This has been a topic for more than 20 years. Things were always postponed. But eventually under pressure from European politics in particular, a ban was eventually introduced, but the ban does come with some concessions and simplified procedures.

The real reasons why this eventually happened, we have to guess. I am thinking mainly in the direction of geopolitics and protection of the European market, and the discouragement of first obtaining certification in the US.

What’s next?

The BASA agreement means that procedures have been drawn up between both parties (EASA and FAA) to allow conversions between the two licenses under certain conditions and restrictions.

These conversions are not uniform and are different depending on the direction of conversion. It is not always easy to find and interpret the regulations in this regard. This on both sides. We offer a service to further inform and assist you in clear and understandable terms. Based on your questions, we will draw up a step-by-step plan, which you can then use as a checklist.

As always, we also provide the necessary training if these were necessary for the further process of conversion.