International Priority Service Retained As Is

In May last year, the FAA said it would delay until January 1 this year a decision to limit “priority service” for aircraft registration in connection with conducting international flights to allow only one request per aircraft (by N-number) in any three-month period due to staffing limitations at the agency’s aircraft registration branch. Fractional programs conducting international flights were the most likely type of operation to be affected due to regular changes in ownership. The FAA has now decided not to institute at this time any changes to the processing of so-called “flywires.” According to the National Air Transportation Association (NATA), the FAA will examine apparent abuses of the expedited service on a case-by-case basis, “focusing on companies with repeated requests that are not substantiated by an international flight.” NATA said it is “very pleased” with the FAA’s change of course on this issue, and reminded its members to “use the flywire service responsibly.”