EU Regulation 1008/2008 — common rules for air services
Ledig is a marketplace, not an air carrier. We do not hold an AOC, we do not contract for the carriage, and we are not the operator- of-record on any flight booked through the platform. Every booking is a direct contract between the traveller and the AOC-holding operator.
That distinction matters because Regulation 1008/2008 requires the operator-of-record to hold a valid Community licence and AOC. By keeping that contract direct, we sidestep the wet-lease and sub-charter complications that arise when a marketplace becomes a de facto re-seller.
AOC verification on every operator
Before any operator can list a leg, we verify:
- Active Community licence from a Member State CAA
- Active AOC with the relevant aircraft type listed in operations specifications
- Valid third-party liability insurance at or above the EU 785/2004 minimum for the aircraft MTOW band
- Active EASA Part-NCC / Part-CAT approval as applicable
We don't take the operator's word for it — we cross-reference national CAA registers and EASA databases at onboarding and every 12 months thereafter. Listings are auto-paused if a verification signal lapses.
GDPR-native data handling
Traveller data is processed under GDPR Art. 6(1)(b) (necessary for contract performance) for booking-related data, and Art. 6(1)(a) (consent) for marketing. Data is stored in the EU (EEA) only. Operators receive only the booking-relevant traveller data — name, contact, KYC reference, special-assistance flags if any. No secondary marketing data is shared.
Operators are joint controllers for booking data only. We provide a data processing agreement at operator onboarding that follows the EU Commission's 2022 standard contractual clauses where relevant.
VAT and consumer protection
Positioning flights remain out-of-scope for VAT under most EU regimes; revenue-generating passenger flights track the operator's own VAT treatment in the country of departure. Ledig issues traveller-facing invoices that match the operator's VAT setup.
Cancellation, force majeure, and IROPS (irregular operations) are governed by the operator's own terms within EU consumer protection limits. Ledig applies them consistently and surfaces them clearly to travellers at booking time so there are no surprises after a no-go.
See also: distribution mechanics, or free utilization projection.