Aircraft Insurance: What is Ground and Taxiing Only (GATO) Cover?

If your aircraft is not flying, either because it is a new build, or is laid up for a long period, it is possible to initially arrange your aircraft insurance on a Ground and Taxiing Only (GATO) basis. This is useful because even when not being flown, your aircraft can still suffer loss or damage (e.g. storm damage while parked), while moving it around the airfield raises the risk of liability for injury to third parties or damage to their property.

GATO is available on an Aircraft Loss or Damage only basis or for Aircraft Loss or Damage and Liability cover.

You can arrange cover initially on a GATO basis and can then upgrade your aircraft insurance to include flight risks at any time through the website. It is not normally possible to downgrade cover to GATO once full flight cover has been selected, although we may consider requests to do so where an aircraft is grounded for a protracted period due to some unforeseen event.