NBAA introduces international flight planning guide

The NBAA has introduced a new guide to comply with international flight planning requirements at the 2024 NBAA International Operators Conference in Orlando, Florida.

The NBAA International Operators Committee developed the International Flight Plan Format Guide to assist operators in navigating the different requirements for flight plans from the FAA, ICAO and foreign regulators. The guide is tailored for international flight planning, serving as a comprehensive resource to streamline and standardize processes while ensuring global compliance. International flight plans require more complexity and attention to detail. The guide emphasizes industry standards and recommendations, acting as a new foundational tool for assembling international flight plans. The tool was developed with input from experts in international procedures and flight plans. Major flight planning vendors were active in the document update, all recognizing the need for synchronization. The plane has a standard format to ensure operators remain compliant and allow inspectors to quickly locate information.

“This document is a guide that operators and flight planning providers can use to align on flight plan format and language,” said Clement Meersseman, VP of strategic partnerships at AviationManuals.

There are dozens of flight plan formats for clients, who may choose a format based on familiarity or preference. Now, vendors will have at least one flight plan format to build upon the industry-recommended format communicated in the guide. The FAA had a recent initiative to streamline the Letter of Authorization application process, which showed there was a need for a standardized international flight plan format since a sample international flight plan is a requirement for most LOA applications. It is not required to use this format, but having an industry-recommended format will help operators demonstrate compliance with international flight planning requirements in the LOA process, while still ensuring compliance in future operations.

“A standardized flight plan removes one LOA application challenge and could also make demonstrating compliance with international flight planning easier in the event of a ramp inspection,” said Brian Koester, CAM, NBAA director of flight operations and regulations.

“We also are collaborating with the FAA to gather feedback on what inspectors are seeing on LOA applications and with the air traffic office to get data on errors they see, for example, incorrect equipment codes,” Meersseman said. “This is not just a guide. We now have a process in place to enhance collaboration with the FAA to mitigate errors and work towards continuous improvement across the industry.”