CAP 1590 and the cost sharing rules explained

CAP 1590 is the CAA's guidance document on cost sharing flights, and it explains the legal conditions a UK private pilot must meet to share the direct costs of a flight with passengers without it becoming a commercial flight. In short: no more than six people on board, passengers pay only towards fuel, oil, airfield charges and market-rate rental, the pilot pays at least an equal share, and every passenger who isn't a current or former licence holder signs a declaration before you go.

The current version is the second edition, published in 2025 to go with the rule changes that came into force on 1 October 2025. You can read it on the CAA website, and the CAA also keeps a shorter cost sharing flights page. This guide walks through what it says and where the underlying law lives.

Where the rules actually come from

CAP 1590 is guidance. The legal conditions are in two places, and which one applies depends on the aircraft you are flying.

• Part-21 aeroplanes and helicopters. Article 6(4a)(a) of UK Regulation (EU) 965/2012 allows "cost-shared flights by private individuals, where the conditions of NCO.GEN.102 are satisfied" to be flown under Part-NCO rather than as commercial air transport (CAT). It only covers "other-than-complex motor-powered aeroplanes and helicopters".
• Non-Part-21 aircraft. For UK permit aircraft, microlights and other Annex I aircraft, article 13 of the Air Navigation Order 2016 (ANO) treats a flight that meets the same criteria as a "non-commercial flight" (CAP 1590, paras 6-7 and 9).
• Sailplanes and balloons. CAP 1590 refers you to Article 3(2)(a) of the UK Sailplane and Balloon Regulations instead (paras 10 and 35). This guide doesn't cover those.

The conditions in NCO.GEN.102 and ANO article 13(2) and (3) are almost identical (the differences are noted below), so in practice the same checklist applies whichever route you are on. "Complex" aeroplanes, which are excluded, include those over 5,700 kg MTOM, with more than 19 passenger seats, needing two pilots, or powered by turbojets or more than one turboprop (CAP 1590, para 33). Almost nothing a private pilot hires from a club falls into that category.

The nine conditions in NCO.GEN.102, in plain English

The conditions are lettered (a) to (i). The quoted wording below is from NCO.GEN.102 as inserted by SI 2025/878.

(a) Six people at most

"No more than six persons (including the pilot) are to be carried on the flight." That six includes you. Your licence or the aircraft may set a lower limit; the six-person limit guide covers LAPL, NPPL and microlight limits.

(b) The pilot pays everything that isn't a direct cost

"All costs other than direct costs must be paid by the pilot with no contribution from the passengers." Direct costs are defined as an exhaustive list: fuel, oil, airfield charges and aircraft rental fees at current market rate. Annual costs such as maintenance, insurance, hangarage and club membership are yours alone (CAP 1590, para 29; the CAA's cost sharing page adds club membership fees for renters). The direct costs guide goes through the grey areas.

(c) Passengers pay no more than an equal share

Each passenger's contribution "is an amount not more than the total direct costs divided equally by the number of persons carried (including the pilot)." CAP 1590 puts it from your side: your contribution "must not be less than the total direct cost divided equally by the number of people on board. Pilots may however choose to pay more than the proportional costs" (para 27). With three passengers, your share must be at least 25%. "There can be no element of profit for the pilot" (paras 3 and 28). The cost sharing calculator works out the split for you.

(d) A private individual operates the flight

"The flight must be operated by a private individual." CAP 1590 explains that this means the pilot acting as a private individual, "not an organisation or company etc." (footnote 1).

(e) No paid pilots

No pilot may be "employed as a pilot or acting under a contract for the provision of services as a pilot for the flight." If someone is paying you to fly, it is not cost sharing.

(f) Passengers are told it isn't airline safety

Passengers must be "clearly advised that the flight does not meet the same safety standards as a Commercial Air Transport (CAT) flight." The ANO version adds "or Public Transport (PT)".

(g) and (h) A signed record for each passenger

For each passenger, "a record must be made attesting to: (1) their having been clearly advised that the flight does not meet the same safety standards as a CAT flight; and (2) their acceptance of this fact as indicated by their signed declaration to this effect." The record must be completed before the flight, kept by the operator for 6 months from the date of the flight, and produced when an Authorised Person (a constable or someone authorised by the CAA) asks for it. Paper or electronic is fine (CAP 1590, para 18). Split My Flight collects each passenger's signed declaration online before the flight and keeps the record for you. The declarations and records guide covers what the record must contain and the exemptions for licence holders and repeat passengers.

(i) Advertising rules

Any advert or promotion must be placed by the pilot intending to operate the flight and must include seven items: a statement that the flight is a private arrangement not conducted in accordance with CAT safety standards, the start and end locations, the date you are available, your licence type, your medical class or declaration, your total hours, and your hours on the advertised type in the three months before the advert. The ANO version says "the pilot or operator". See the advertising guide for posting on platforms and social media.

Other points CAP 1590 makes

Beyond the nine conditions, CAP 1590 adds some practical points:

• You're in charge. You may amend or cancel the flight for any reason, including at short notice, and refuse any passenger without giving a reason (paras 12-13).
• Insurance. You must make sure the flight is insured for cost sharing with passengers. Passengers should check their own life, accident and health cover (para 14).
• Foreign links. Where a flight to the UK starts in, or uses an aircraft registered in, another country, "the strictest set of requirements of the two countries will apply" (para 16).
• Recency. To carry passengers you need three take-offs, approaches and landings in the relevant class or type in the preceding 90 days, with one at night for night passenger flights unless you hold an IR (para 15).
• Licence. A private licence is enough (para 23). Separately, the CAA's consultation response (CAP 2391) rejected a minimum-hours requirement and dropped the proposed "common purpose" test.

The UK Cost Sharing Charter

The CAA's "Charter to promote the safety of Cost Sharing flights" (CAP 1590A) is a voluntary set of commitments that organisations arranging cost sharing flights, such as online platforms, can sign up to. Signatories commit to providing a passenger declaration form and pilot safety guidance, giving passengers information on the aircraft type and the pilot's experience, recency and qualifications, making sure only direct costs are shared and the pilot pays at least a proportional share, enforcing the advert content rules, running a safety forum, and sharing data with and meeting the CAA.

Where flights are arranged through online platforms, "the CAA recommends the use of only websites that have signed up to the UK Charter" (CAP 1590, para 25). That is a recommendation, not law. You can legally arrange a cost sharing flight through other channels as long as you meet every condition above.

As at October 2026, the CAA's cost sharing page lists one signatory: Wingly. Check the CAA page for the current list, as others may sign later.

Putting it together

If you take one thing from CAP 1590, make it this: cost sharing is a narrow exception, and every condition has to be met on every flight. Before each one, check the headcount against your licence and aircraft, work out the split from direct costs only, confirm your recency and insurance, and get a signed declaration from each passenger. For a wider view of how this fits with the rest of the rules, see the regulations overview, and for what was new on 1 October 2025, read what changed in October 2025.