Air Navigation and Transport Act, 1988

Detention and sale of aircraft for unpaid aerodrome charges.

32.—(1) Where default is made in the payment of aerodrome charges incurrred in respect of any aircraft, the Minister or the aerodrome authority concerned, as the case may be, may, subject to the provisions of this section—

(a) detain, pending payment of such charges, either—

(i) the aircraft in respect of which the charges were incurred (whether or not they were incurred by the person who is the operator of the aircraft at the time when the detention commences), or

(ii) any other aircraft of which the person in default is the operator at the time when the detention commences, and

(b) if the charges are not paid within 56 days of the date when the detention commences, sell the aircraft in order to satisfy the charges.

(2) The Minister or the aerodrome authority concerned, as the case may be, shall not detain, or continue to detain, an aircraft under this section by reason of any alleged default in the payment of aerodrome charges if the operator of the aircraft or any other person claiming an interest therein—

(a) disputes that the charges, or any of them, are due, or

(b) if the aircraft is detained under subsection (1) (a) (i), disputes that the charges in question were incurred in respect of that aircraft,

and the operator of the aircraft or any such other person, gives to the Minister or the aerodrome authority, as the case may be, pending the determination of the dispute, sufficient security for the payment of the charges which are alleged to be due.

(3) The Minister or the aerodrome authority concerned, as the case may be, shall not sell an aircraft under this section without the leave of the Court and the Court shall not give such leave unless it is established that—

(a) a sum is due to the Minister or to such aerodrome authority, as the case may be, for aerodrome charges,

(b) default has been made in the payment thereof, and

(c) the aircraft which the Minister or such aerodrome authority, as the case may be, seeks leave to sell is liable to sale under this section by reason of such default.

(4) The Minister or the aerodrome authority, as the case may be, proposing to apply for leave to sell an aircraft under this section shall take such steps as may be practicable for—

(a) bringing the proposed application to the notice of persons whose interests may be affected by the determination of the Court thereon, and

(b) affording to any such person an opportunity of becoming a party to the proceedings on the application,

and, if leave to sell the aircraft is granted by the Court, the Minister or the aerodrome authority, as the case may be, shall secure that the aircraft is sold for the best price that can reasonably be obtained.

(5) Failure by the Minister or the aerodrome authority concerned to comply with any requirement of subsection (4) in respect of any sale, while actionable as against the Minister or such aerodrome authority concerned at the suit of any person suffering loss in consequence thereof, shall not, after the sale has taken place, be a ground for impugning the validity of such sale.

(6) The proceeds of any sale under this section shall be applied as follows, and in the following order, that is to say—

(a) in payment of any duty (whether of customs or excise) or value-added tax chargeable on imported goods or on the aircraft itself which is due as a consequence of the aircraft's having been brought into the State;

(b) in payment of the expenses incurred by the Minister or the aerodrome authority concerned, as the case may be, in detaining, keeping and selling the aircraft (including the expenses in connection with any application to the Court under subsection (3));

(c) in payment of the aerodrome charges which the Court has found to be due; and

the surplus, if any, of such proceeds shall be paid to, or among, the person or persons whose interests in the aircraft have been divested by reason of the sale.

(7) The power of detention and sale conferred by this section in respect of an aircraft shall extend to the equipment of the aircraft and any stores for use in connection with the operation of the aircraft (being equipment and stores carried in the aircraft) whether or not such equipment or stores are the property of the person who is the operator of the aircraft, and references to the aircraft in subsections (2) to (6) include, except where the context otherwise requires, references to any such equipment and stores.

(8) The power of detention conferred by this section in respect of an aircraft shall extend to any aircraft documents carried in the aircraft, and any such documents may, if the aircraft is sold under this section, be transferred by the Minister or the aerodrome authority concerned, as the case may be, to the purchaser of the aircraft.

(9) The power conferred by this section to detain an aircraft in respect of which charges have been incurrred may be exercised on the occasion on which the charges have been incurred, or on any subsequent occasion, when the aircraft is on the aerodrome on which those charges were incurred, or on any other aerodrome owned or managed by the Minister or the aerodrome authority concerned, as the case may be.

(10) Nothing in this section shall prejudice any right of the Minister or an aerodrome authority to recover any charges, or any part thereof, by action.

(11) In this section—

“aerodrome authority”, in relation to any aerodrome, means the person owning or managing it;

“aerodrome charges” means charges payable to the Minister or an aerodrome authority for the use of, or for services provided at, an aerodrome and includes, in relation to the Minister, charges payable for air navigation services by virtue of Regulations under section 12 of the Act of 1963;

“aircraft documents”, in relation to any aircraft, means any certificate of registration, maintenance or airworthiness of that aircraft, any log book relating to the use of that aircraft or its equipment and any similar document and includes any record required to be made by virtue of Regulations under section 12 of the Act of 1963.