Judgment_paragraph 84 · Flying Holding NV and Others v European Commission (T-91/12, T-280/12)

84However, it is clear from that report enclosed with the applicants’ letter of 20 December 2011 that a number of the aspects audited related to the security and safety of the audited airline. These included the skills of the navigation staff, in particular the pilots, and information on emergency procedures. The heading ’Security’ was actually expressly used. In fact, as the Commission rightly points out, the purpose of the audit preceding the grant of an air operator’s certificate is to verify that that operator has the professional skills and organisation necessary to ensure the security and safety of the aircraft concerned. It is, in fact, clear from the EU legislation, which is also cited by the Luxembourg Directorate for Civil Aviation in its letters to the applicants as constituting the legal basis for carrying out the audit in question, that a high and uniform level of protection of the European citizen should at all times be ensured in civil aviation, by the adoption of common safety rules [recital 1 in the preamble to Regulation (EC) No 216/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 February 2008 on common rules in the field of civil aviation and establishing a European Aviation Safety Agency, and repealing Council Directive 91/670/EEC, Regulation (EC) No 1592/2002 and Directive 2004/36/EC (OJ 2008 L 79, p. 1); see also second recital in the preamble to Council Regulation (EEC) No 3922/91 of 16 December 1991 on the harmonisation of technical requirements and administrative procedures in the field of civil aviation (OJ 1991 L 373, p. 4)].