Press Release

Issued by Abacus Trust Company.

July 26, 2007

The Isle of Man is a self-governing territory situated in the centre of the British Isles and although it is not part of the United Kingdom it is a British Crown dependency.

The Island has an independent regulatory regime and favourable tax structure. It has developed an enviable international reputation for its world-class regulatory system, favourable tax position, economic and political stability and flourishing financial services industry. This has been highlighted by the Island achieving a Standard & Poors AAA rating.

Following the success and prestige of the Island's Shipping and Superyacht Register, the Island's Government decided that the Isle of Man could increase the services it was able to offer and take advantage of a booming industry by introducing an Aircraft Register. Having been researched and developed for in excess of a year, the Aircraft Register was established on the 1 May 2007 for high quality private and corporate aircraft.

The Register has been implemented after consultation between the Island's Government, the private sector on the Island and the UK Department for Transport. The intention has been to mirror the highly respected and successful Shipping and Superyacht Register and so far this has been achieved.

The Island's newly appointment Director of Civil Aviation, Brian Johnson is more than experienced for the job with more than 10 years in the flight operations inspectorate of the UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA). Latterly, he was Head of Flight Operations Inspectorate – Aeroplanes, based at Gatwick, and also acted as the UK safety Assessment Coordinator – Foreign Aircraft Programme, for the UK Department for Transport.

One of Brian's first challenges has been to establish the legal and technical framework on the Island and he has developed the Air Navigation (Isle of Man) Order 2007. The Island's aircraft regime closely follows the UK's Legislation, although remains independent.

The country designator "M" was originally used by Spain, however in 1931 Spain changed its prefix to EC (Espana Civil), and the prefix "M" was then allocated to the UK and has not been used since. The UK notified International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) in July 2006 that "M" was available to be used as the prefix for aircraft registered in the Isle of Man, therefore earmarking "M" for Mann.

All aircraft registered on the Island have the registration letter of "M-"followed by four characters. This has already proved a hit, with registrations already reserved for "M-ONEY", "M-AGIC" and "M-ONKY" to name a few. It is possible on Isle of Man registered aircraft to transfer a 'cherished' out of sequence registration to another Manx registered aircraft enabling owners to continue using their registration when they purchase new aircraft. This is not possible on the UK 'G' register.

The popularity of the Register has already surpassed expectations with eleven high quality aircraft (both jets and helicopters) having been registered or in the process of being registered in the near future. There have been many additional enquiries into the register.

There are numerous benefits of using the Islands Registry besides the Islands reputation as a high quality service provider, its favourable tax regime and the experience and know-how gained from the successful Shipping and Superyacht Register. One such advantage is the Register's ability to work closely with the Island's parliament in relation to determining the required legislation. This has enabled the Registry to be more user-friendly than in many other jurisdictions. It has been able to learn from other Registers experience and through the knowledge and expertise of Brian and his colleagues.

The Registry only accepts high-quality private and corporate aircraft, it cannot accept aircraft which fly for the purpose of public transport. The low profile, neutral registration is an advantage to a number of businesses, especially where business is to be conducted in places where there has been conflict, or where certain countries registrations will not be looked upon favourably. Previously with the limited choice of places to register aircraft this has been difficult to avoid.

The Island's professional team at the Registry have also agreed to hosting a 24 hour secure mortgage register, by arrangement, showing the flexibility of the Registry and taking into account the world wide needs of its users.

Another benefit is that holders of internationally recognised Flight Crew Licences can be validated to fly Manx registered aircraft, the advantage being that this can result in significant time and cost savings, avoiding the need to retrain and obtain new licences.

There are few dedicated business aircraft registries world wide, with little choice in Europe and as such the time-zone of the Island is much better suited for European clients than those across the Atlantic. The Island shares the same time-zone as the UK. This is hoped to be another influential factor in where people register their aircraft.

It has been the intention to ensure the Island's Registry is competitively priced, with no compromise on the quality of services offered. This is highlighted by cost of registering being only £55 for light aircraft and £110 for larger aircraft. The cost of registering a mortgage is £210 and the renewals of certificates of airworthiness are £40 per 500kg. Some of these charges are plus an hourly or daily rate, please visit http://www.gov.im/dti/Aircraft to see a full list of the Scheme of Charges.

The business aircraft industry has seen rapid growth in the last few years as increased security and delays with scheduled airlines have made conventional business travel inconvenient and time consuming. This growth is expected to increase further with the advent of very light jet aircraft (VLJs). As a result of their greatly reduced purchase and operating costs compared with the conventional private or corporate jet aircraft demand has risen significantly. The Island's Register hopes to take advantage of this growth. Based on the thriving financial services industry and the success of the Shipping and Superyacht Register, it is looking promising for a bright future.