The Wicks Group provides a range of legal services to clients with aviation or other transportation-related matters, encompassing several practice areas. The quality and effectiveness of the services we provide is reflected in the long-standing relationships we have with many clients. Descriptions of the firm’s main practice areas follow.
The Wicks Group attorneys have decades of success in assisting domestic and foreign air carriers, aircraft and aircraft parts manufacturers, airports and airport service providers, maintenance and repair stations, business aviation companies, hazardous materials shippers, and others with understanding and complying with US regulatory requirements, and successfully navigating regulatory processes. Our attorneys are experienced with all of the key US agencies for the aviation sector, including the Department of Transportation (DOT), Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), Department of State, Department of Homeland Security, Transportation Security Administration, Treasury Department, Department of Defense, Bureau of Customs and Border Protection, Federal Communications Commission, Citizenship and Immigration Services, and the Office of Foreign Assets Control, among others.
Our regulatory practice assists clients with obtaining the necessary certificates and approvals for starting-up US operations or for equipping or servicing US-registered aircraft. TWG also assists both new and established operators and others with the regulatory-related matters that arise in the course of doing business, including obtaining flight authorizations and landing rights approvals; representing them in slot exemption and evidentiary proceedings; representing them in route transfer cases; preparing responsive pleadings to competing carrier requests for operating authority; obtaining approvals for air carrier security plans; obtaining DOD individual and facility security clearances; advising them on how to comply with US noise, antitrust, and hazardous materials regulations; and much more.
TWG also regularly represents clients in economic and safety enforcement matters before the DOT, FAA, Customs Bureau, and other government agencies. For example, TWG successfully represented a foreign airline in emergency proceedings before the State Department, DOT, FAA, and the Treasury Department to achieve the release of a seized aircraft. We also helped a U.S. repair station resolve several significant enforcement actions involving the licensing of aircraft parts and components and helped a large domestic aircraft parts manufacturer with manufacturing approval and enforcement matters.
Our regulatory work for airport authorities, airports, and airport management firms includes advice on complying with DOT and FAA regulations, including grant assurances, noise and environmental regulations, and safety oversight. TWG also advises slots, rates and charges, revenue retention, land use, finance, competition, and litigation matters. In addition, our attorneys also advise airport authorities and airport management firms on complying with state regulations that affect airports and airport users.
The Wicks Group also advises government civil aviation authorities (CAAs) on regulatory changes to improve aviation safety oversight and monitoring and on regulatory changes to support development of the business aviation sector in their country. TWG also has assisted foreign CAAs and the FAA with developing new regulations or regulatory guidance. (Note: Our services to CAAs generally have been provided through our sister company, The Wicks Group Consulting, and are described on that firm’s website.)
Read more about our air carrier work here
Read more about our airport work here
Read more about our aircraft and parts manufacturers work here
Read more about our business aviation work here
Read more about our hazardous materials work here
Our attorneys are experienced in assisting both domestic and foreign airlines with aircraft finance transactions, including negotiating and drafting purchase and sale agreements for new and used aircraft, wet-lease and dry-lease arrangements, and other commercial documentation for equipment financing. TWG has extensive experience with cross-border financing and leasing transactions, including those financed through major international and US institutions such as the US Export-Import Bank. TWG also assists clients in setting up ownership trusts and on interactions with US and foreign government agencies related to aircraft acquisition-related issues.
Our work also includes advising private and corporate aircraft users on ownership and operating structures, as well as on aircraft acquisition, leasing, and financing.
Read more about our air carrier work here
Read more about our business aviation work here
The Wicks Group advises and assists clients on a wide range of commercial issues and agreements, including those related to marketing and sales, facility and land leases, management and service contracts, and more.
Our commercial work for air carriers includes drafting and negotiating joint marketing agreements between airlines, licensing and consulting agreements between product and service suppliers and purchases, and many other types of complex commercial arrangements. TWG also advises air carriers on all aspects of code-share arrangements, including commercial issues, potential liability, and other legal issues, and assist them with negotiating and implementing the code-sharing arrangements.
Our commercial work for airport operators includes drafting and negotiating a variety of commercial agreements, management and operations agreements, and real property leases, and advising on bankruptcy-related matters. TWG also assists aviation fueling service providers and other types of service providers with bidding for business and negotiating the resulting contracts. TWG also advises airport authorities on airport development and use and airport privatization issues.
Read more about our air carrier work here
Read more about our airport work here
Read more about our aircraft and parts manufacturers work here
Read more about our business aviation work here
Our attorneys have more than 20 years of experience in advising and defending clients regarding their hazardous materials transportation responsibilities under the regulations of the US Department of Transportation Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA), Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), and other modal agencies. TWG advises consumer product manufacturers, chemical manufacturers, airlines, freight forwarders and transporters, and others on appropriate compliance with hazardous materials regulations and also help them obtain special exemptions and approvals to ship hazardous materials in ways not addressed by existing regulations.
Our attorneys also represent clients in proposed civil penalty cases before PHMSA or the FAA and often achieve substantial reductions or eliminations of proposed fines. Our professionals also provide preventive guidance to the industry, regularly authoring hazardous materials transportation-related articles for prominent trade publications.
In addition to our hazardous materials work, TWG attorneys routinely advise airports and operators on compliance with noise regulations. Our attorneys also are experienced in advising aircraft operators on European Union Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) requirements, including informing them of changes in ETS-related requirements. (Our sister company, The Wicks Group Consulting, also assists operators with preparing ETS-required monitoring plans and annual emissions reports, and with emissions certificate acquisition and surrender, as described on that firm’s website.)
Read more about our hazardous materials work here
Read more about our work for air carriers here
Read more about our work for airports and airport service providers here
Read more about our work for business aviation here
The Wicks Group provides a variety of litigation services for both administrative and court proceedings. The firm’s aviation specialization allows our attorneys to provide clients with particularly informed and expert assistance with aviation-related matters, accounting for the firm's many years of involvement in complex litigation matters. We regularly advise clients, as lead counsel or expert aviation counsel, on matters related to federal grant assurances, day-to-day operations in the US and elsewhere, and commercial disputes. Our litigation work has encompassed federal, state, and local jurisdictions, as well as international matters assisting clients in foreign jurisdictions.
Examples of our domestic work include representing a major express air and ground delivery service before a US Department of Transportation administrative law judge on a hazardous materials matter, representing a ground-handling company in Virginia courts on a commercial dispute with a former business partner, and representing a foreign air carrier in Virginia courts in a commercial dispute with a hospitality services company.
Examples of our international work include serving as lead counsel for a client in a cross-border disputed aircraft sales transaction that raised issues simultaneously in Ireland, New York, and Oklahoma jurisdictions; serving as lead counsel for litigation in Canada regarding a multi-million dispute about cargo transportation; and representing a member of the Saudi Royal Family in a dispute over a large private jet completion.
Read more about our air carrier work here
Read more about our airports and airport service providers work here
Read more about our aircraft acquisition, ownership, and financing work here
Read more about our hazardous materials work here