What EASA’s New Ground Handling Rules Mean For You
Ground handling has never had dedicated EU-wide safety regulation – until now. Here’s what’s changing, when it takes effect, and what it means for your calibration and load-test records specifically.
What’s Changed
The European Commission has published Delegated Regulation 2025/20 and Implementing Regulation 2025/23 – the first dedicated safety regulations for ground handling services, bringing an area that’s operated without EU-wide oversight formally under EASA’s framework.
Over 300,000 ground handling personnel work at EU airports daily, so this is a meaningful shift for anyone in our end of the industry, not a paperwork footnote.
In practical terms, ground handling providers and the equipment they operate move from a patchwork of national rules to a single EU-wide safety standard – closer to how flight operations and maintenance are already regulated.
Implementation is expected by 2028, with EASA supporting the industry through the transition. That’s still a couple of years out – but the practical prep is worth having in place well ahead of the deadline, not scrambled together in the final year.
The Part That Affects Your Equipment
Alongside the broader ground handling regulation, two related SMS compliance windows have already closed this year. EASA assessed Part 145 organisations’ SMS maturity against real trend data – not just paperwork – from 31 March 2026.
And for UK-approved organisations specifically, the CAA’s own deadline landed on 1 July 2026: unresolved SMS findings after that date can mean suspension, limitation or revocation of Part 145 approval, not just a warning letter.
For ground support equipment, the practical detail that sits underneath both: load test certifications for jacks, hoists and slings are expected current on a 12-month cycle, with calibrated tools tracked against a master register.
We stock and support the jacks, hoists and lifting equipment this regulation touches directly. We’d rather you hear about it from us early and plainly than scramble closer to the deadline – this isn’t a sales pitch, just information worth having.
