The Austrian airline Easyjet Europe is the first carrier to use the digital airworthiness certificates optionally provided by Austro Control. According to the operator, these have been available to the 1 Airbus jets entered in the OE register since July 2023, 126.

The first machine to be equipped with the new digital certificates was the Airbus A320 with the registration OE-LSQ. Since July 1, Austro Control has been offering an innovative process for the digital signing and delivery of all official documents to be carried on the aircraft that were previously issued and transmitted in paper form. Paper Airworthiness Certificates are gradually being replaced by digital certificates in EasyJet's European fleet, which consists of 126 Austrian-registered aircraft, making it the country's largest fleet.

To date, Easyjet Europe is the only Austrian operator to use this solution. The digital certificates, which include the Certificate of Registration, Certificate of Airworthiness and Noise Certificate, are official certificates and are recognized by the various national civil aviation authorities across Europe. This new method offers two main advantages. Firstly, this innovative approach brings significant time and cost savings as it eliminates the need to convey up-to-date official documents to maintenance personnel at different locations in Europe. Secondly, thanks to digital airworthiness certificates, easyjet continues its digitization efforts in the cockpit to enable a paperless cockpit.

“We are pleased that Austro Control is one of the first European regulatory authorities to introduce this new procedure and we would like to congratulate them. As Europe's leading airline, we are very happy about this success, because Easyjet has supported and encouraged this development from the beginning. This new system demonstrates our ongoing commitment to greater efficiency and sustainability by reducing the amount of paper on board our aircraft - clear proof of our innovative spirit," said Easyjet Europe Managing Director Thomas Haagensen.

On behalf of the ACG, Valerie Hackl, head of the authorities, explained: “With the introduction of electronic certificates, we are able to offer our services even faster and more efficiently. In the future, our customers will benefit from the location and time-independent issue of digital on-board documents. For us, this is an important step on our way to digitizing the entire administrative process by 2026 and further establishing Austro Control as one of the most modern and innovative aviation authorities in Europe".