New European Union rules introduce dedicated requirements for Ground Handling organisations and the Competent Authorities responsible for their oversight, covering Safety Management Systems (SMS), operational procedures, competence, documentation, and regulatory supervision. The rules will apply from 27 March 2028, but the practical work of implementation starts well before then.
For organisations already providing ground handling services, the transition period is the time to assess what the new framework means for existing responsibilities, systems, procedures, training and operational interfaces.
Aviation expert Brian Brophy, who delivers specialist training for the JAA Training Organisation (JAA TO), brings more than 30 years of experience in military and civil aviation, with expertise in Safety Management Systems, risk management, and auditing. Having worked with airlines and National Aviation Authorities across Europe and internationally, Brophy believes the scale of the regulatory change should not be underestimated.
This is not a small update. It changes operational control, internal control and regulatory oversight, and it changes how safe ground handling has to be demonstrated.
A Dedicated Framework for Ground Handling
Ground handling is closely connected with the safety of aircraft operations, but until now it has not been subject to the same dedicated EU regulatory framework as several other areas of aviation.
Regulation (EU) 2025/20 changes this for organisations providing ground handling services and for the way those services are performed. It introduces organisational requirements under Part-ORGH and operational requirements under Part-GH.OPS.
Regulation (EU) 2025/23 addresses the other side of the system, establishing requirements for competent authorities under Part-ARGH. In practice, the framework connects four areas that cannot be treated separately: the organisation providing the service, the operation itself, interfaces with aircraft operators and aerodromes, and the authority responsible for oversight.
This is where the change becomes operational rather than purely regulatory. Organisations will need to show how requirements are applied in everyday ground handling activities, not simply where they appear in manuals.
Safety Management Moves Firmly into Ground Handling
One of the most important changes is the formal incorporation of Safety Management requirements into ground handling.
Safety Management Systems (SMS) are well established in other areas of aviation. Ground handling organisations, however, have not previously operated under the same dedicated requirements. As Brophy points out, this is also why ground handling professionals have historically been less visible in general aviation SMS training. The challenge will not simply be to produce an SMS manual or establish a hazard register. Organisations will need a system that takes an identified safety issue through risk assessment, control and verification.
As Brophy puts it: “The regulation expects a closed-loop safety management system.”
The practical logic is straightforward:
Activity → Hazard → Risk → Control → Verify → Improve
In ground handling, this can apply to pushback, aircraft loading, Ground Support Equipment, FOD, boarding, contracted activities and other ramp-related risks.
This creates a useful test for managers and safety personnel: Can we demonstrate how a hazard identified in daily operations is assessed, controlled and followed through to verification?
Brophy describes the objective in practical terms: SMS needs to move from something documented into a system that actively supports operational control.
Safety Management Systems in Ground Handling Organisations | 3 days
JAA TO's dedicated three-day course focuses on applying Safety Management principles specifically within ground handling operations.
Brophy reduces a complex regulation to a set of very practical questions: “What services are covered? What needs to be declared? What needs to be documented and retained? How do Safety Management, competence, equipment and operational requirements fit together within one organisation?”
Those questions are useful precisely because they move the discussion away from individual provisions and towards the organisation as a whole. A provider preparing for the new framework needs to understand not only what the regulation requires, but how its existing systems fit together: operations, competence, training, equipment, documentation, contractors, safety management and interfaces with aerodromes and aircraft operators.
The real task, as Brophy describes it, is to turn regulation into something that can be applied in everyday operations rather than leaving it as a collection of regulatory provisions.
Ground Handling Requirements under Regulation (EU) 2025/20
Before 2028: Turning Requirements into Readiness
The new requirements will apply from 27 March 2028, but for organisations preparing for implementation, that date is better treated as a deadline to work back from. Management systems may need to be reviewed.
Manuals and procedures may need to change. Training programmes and competence requirements may need to be adapted. Equipment-related processes need to be considered, alongside interfaces with aerodromes, aircraft operators and contractors. The transition does not affect ground handling organisations alone.
Regulation (EU) 2025/23 introduces new responsibilities for competent authorities. They will need to receive declarations, plan and conduct oversight, manage findings, monitor corrective actions and take further action where required. Authorities will also need appropriate procedures, records and competent personnel to perform those tasks consistently.
For some authorities, this will mean developing oversight capability in an area that has not previously been subject to a dedicated EU ground handling framework and that raises another issue: inspector competence. Existing inspectors may come from flight operations, engineering or other aviation backgrounds. That experience is relevant, but it does not automatically provide the operational knowledge required to oversee a ground handling organisation.
Authorities can use existing inspectors, but they still need to ensure those inspectors are competent for the oversight they are expected to perform. This matters because effective oversight goes beyond checking whether a requirement has been incorporated into a manual. Inspectors need to understand what they are seeing operationally and determine whether the organisation has translated the regulation into a functioning system.
Consistency is equally important and this knowledge is needed for a common understanding of organisational and authority requirements, particularly when authorities are dealing with declarations, findings and corrective actions.
Authority Oversight of Ground Handling Organisations
JAA TO's third dedicated course addresses the competent authority perspective.
From regulation to everyday operations
Taken together, the new regulations affect both sides of the oversight relationship. Ground handling organisations need to translate the requirements into functioning management systems, operational procedures, competence arrangements and controls. Competent authorities need the knowledge and structures required to assess those systems consistently. The common question is whether the regulation works once it reaches the operation.
For organisations, that means being able to demonstrate more than documentation. It means showing how safety and compliance are managed through everyday decisions, controls, records and operational practices. This is also why JAA TO has developed the new Ground Handling portfolio as three connected but distinct courses: Safety Management, organisational and operational requirements, and competent authority oversight. Each addresses a different responsibility within the same regulatory framework.
Explore JAA TO's Ground Handling courses and choose the training that corresponds to your role in preparing for the new EU requirements.
About JAA TO ✈️
The JAA Training Organisation (JAA TO) is a Dutch non-profit, self-financing organisation and the Associated Body of the European Civil Aviation Conference (ECAC). JAA TO has a history of 50+ years training the aviation industry and national authorities on regulation in the air transport sector. JAA TO is the only Platinum Training Centre of Excellence (TCE) in Europe recognised by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO). JAA TO is an IATA Dangerous Goods CBTA Centre of Excellence, an ACI World Accredited Training Partner, recognized Dutch National Aviation Security Training Centre and a leading member of the EASA Virtual Academy (EVA).
JAA TO schedules more than 300 training courses annually on topics such as safety, security, drones and management. Within the aviation community, JAA TO offers a platform to learn and exchange views on latest regulatory developments. In addition, JAA TO provides advisory services, knowledge solutions, training consultancy and assistance with capacity building for (aviation) training departments.
JAA TO press contact: Karl Schreiber
Marketing & Communications Manager
Email: kschreiber@jaato.com
Tel: +31 (0) 23 56 79 721
