(1) A commercial air transport operator is not an aircraft operator for the purposes of this Order in relation to a scheme year, where in respect of that year it operates -

(a) less than 243 full-scope flights per period for 3 consecutive 4-month periods; or

(b) full-scope flights with total annual emissions of less than 10,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide.

(2) In this article, "4-month period" means any of the following periods -

(a) January to April;

(b) May to August;

(c) September to December.

(3) For the purposes of this article, a full-scope flight is taken to have occurred in the 4-month period that included its local time of departure.