Applications for Approved Maintenance Organisations (Part 145)

The safety standards and requirements for organisations to be approved for the maintenance of aircraft and aeronautical products are set out in Part 145 of the Civil Aviation Safety Regulations (CASR).

Maintenance organisations that hold a Part 145 Approval provide services that meet the requirements of the CASR, related legislation, the Part 145 Manual of Standards, and Acceptable Means of Compliance and Guidance Material (AMC/GM).

This page details the application process to become an Approved Maintenance Organisation (AMO) under Part 145. It applies to:

  • new applicants seeking first-time approval to become an Approved Maintenance Organisation – this may include maintenance of aircraft operating under the CAR 1988 requirements.
  • current holders of a CAR 30 Certificate of Approval wanting to transition to an Approved Maintenance Organisation under Part 145.

Note: The page includes Relevant Exemptions which can benefit current AMO’s as well as new and transitioning applicants.

Relevant exemptions

We have created some legal exemptions to make certain maintenance activities easier to carry out for Approved Maintenance Organisations (AMO). These exemptions may be relevant to your application.

Exemption CASA EX60/20 – Provision of Specialist Maintenance by a Class D AMO to an Aircraft A rated AMO

It applies to new or current AMOs for:

  • the Aircraft Category ‘A’ rating (CAT A AMO) contracting services from Specialist Maintenance Category D1 or D2 rated AMOs
  • Specialist Maintenance Category ‘D1 NDT’ or ‘D2 Welding’ (CAT D1 or D2 AMO) on-wing in support for the (CAT A AMO).

The exemption allows the Specialist Maintenance AMO to provide contracted maintenance services and issue a certificate of release to service under its own approval certificate.

If your application proposes to conduct Aircraft “A” rating or Specialist Maintenance “D1 NDT or D2 Welding” rating maintenance activities, and you want to utilise Specialist Maintenance activities as contracted maintenance services in accordance with EX60/20, you must include the relevant requirements within your exposition.

For more details see the legislative instrument CASA EX60/20 – CRS and SM CRS Document to Cover Specialist Maintenance by a Class D AMO.

Also see the AMC/GM provided by Principle AMO.02 Specialist Maintenance.

Note: Applicable current AMO's adopting the CASA EX60/20 instrument must submit a significant change application to be approved by CASA.

Exemption CASA EX41/20 – Part 145 Exposition (CAR Maintenance Activities)

New and current Part 145 AMOs can benefit from this exemption if they want to either:

  • consolidate Part 145 and CAR 30 certificates where dual approvals are held
  • undertake CAR maintenance activities.

If you propose to undertake CAR 1988 maintenance activities, include the requirements within your exposition. We must be satisfied that you can meet the requirements specified in the Part 145 Assessor Handbook relating to CAR maintenance activities.

For more details see:

How to Apply

Before you complete the application process, please read the requirements for Part 145 approved maintenance organisations.

You can contact us with questions about your application at any stage.

  1. Complete an exposition

    An exposition details how your organisation conducts activities safely by complying with legislation.

    Your exposition must include the requirements set out in CASR Part 145 - Section 145.A.70 of the Part 145 Manual of Standards (MOS) and detailed within the acceptable means of compliance (AMC) for Part 145 Approved Maintenance Organisation Requirements.

    We recommend using our sample exposition to help guide how you structure and write your exposition: Sample exposition for Part 145 of CASR.

  2. Download and complete the application form

    Download Application for CASR Part 145 approval certificate from 145-01 and complete the relevant sections.

  3. Download and complete the nominated personnel form

    Complete the Application for nominated personnel approval application form 4. For details about the positions you must nominate, see as per Paragraph 145.A.30 (a), (b) and (c) of the Part 145 Manual of Standards.

  4. Submit your application

    Make sure your application contains the following documents:

    • application for CASR Part 145 approval certificate form
    • application for nominated personnel approval application form/s
    • exposition – can be one document or a series of documents (see sample exposition and AMC-GM)
    • all other supporting documents if required.

    Once you have completed all these documents, submit them to us using the details on the form.

    We will send you an email confirming receipt of your application.

  5. Review of your application

    Once we have received your application we will send you a confirmation email. If your application is incomplete, we will contact you.

    We will also provide you with a cost estimate of your application fee.

  6. Pay fees and submit supporting documents

    The application fee is based on an hourly rate. We will calculate the number of hours required to assess your application and provide an estimate. We will also tell you if we need any further supporting documents.

    We will consider any applicable fee waivers and where they are applicable, we will not charge industry fees to transition from existing privileges to their equivalent under the CASR Parts. Fees will apply to applicants seeking new or additional privileges.

    To proceed with your application, you need to:

    • pay the amount noted in the estimate letter
    • provide any further documents.

    We will not assess your application until we have received your payment and supporting documents.

  7. Detailed assessment

    We then carry out a detailed assessment of your application. The assessment is done in accordance with requirements under the:

    • Civil Aviation Act
    • Civil Aviation Regulations 1988
    • Civil Aviation Safety Regulations 1998
    • CASR Part 145 approved maintenance organisation technical assessor handbook.

    We may contact you to arrange a meeting to discuss:

    • assessment time frames
    • the suitability of the exposition and any other supporting documentation/manuals you submitted
    • the qualifications and/or responsibilities of personnel.

  8. Recommendation and approval

    Once we have all the required information and have completed assessing your application, we'll give you a recommendation or approval.

  9. Issue certificate

    If your application is successful, we will send your certificate by email and post.

    We'll also compare our actual hours against our estimate, and let you know if there's any adjustment. If we've spent less time on your application than initially estimated, we'll send you a refund for those hours along with your certificate.

    If you need to pay an additional fee, you must pay any outstanding amount before we send your certificate.

Withdrawal of application

You can withdraw your application in writing at any time. If you withdraw after we have reviewed your application, we will charge you for only the time we have already spent on your assessment.

We will send you an invoice or refund as applicable.

Last updated:
24 Feb 2022
Online version available at: https://www.casa.gov.au//aircraft/airworthiness/maintenance-organisations/applications-approved-maintenance-organisations-part-145
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