London Aircraft Insurance Policy (AVN 1D)

The London Aircraft Insurance Policy is the standard form of the AVN (Aviation, London market clauses) series: it combines physical damage to the aircraft and legal liability in the same policy. On August 5, 2014, the Aviation Insurance Clauses Group published the wording of AVN 1D, set to replace AVN 1C, the policy that had carried most London-placed general aviation business for decades. AVN 1C ran to three sections: damage to the aircraft, liability to third parties other than passengers, and liability to passengers. Above them, a schedule names the pilots, the use and the geographical limits. What changes with AVN 1D, according to the note HFW published in March 2015, sits first in Section 1, renamed Physical Loss or Damage to Aircraft. Insurers lose the option to repair, replace or pay: they pay. Engine damage is indemnified only if it requires withdrawal from service on first landing. Wear and tear is expressly excluded, and so is theft of the aircraft by an insured or with their consent. The geographical exclusion falls away for a forced landing or force majeure. The major exclusions leave the body of the text and become attachments forming part of the policy. AVN 48B deals with war and hijacking, AVN 38B with nuclear, AVN 46B with noise and pollution, AVN 2000A with date recognition. AVN 72 governs third party rights under the Contracts (Rights of Third Parties) Act 1999. An embargo and sanctions provision copied from AVN 111 is added, along with a choice of law and jurisdiction clause. The market read the reform as a move toward airline wordings and more insurer control over defense and settlement. Large carriers, though, do not buy AVN 1D off the shelf; they negotiate manuscript wordings that carry the same AVN attachments.