NBAA, FAA Working To Resume Barr Program

Over the past week, NBAA has been in discussions with FAA officials to determine the logistics of resurrecting the Blocked Aircraft Registration Request program. The FAA ended the tail-number blocking program in August, but a Fiscal Year 2012 appropriations bill passed on November 17 contained a provision effectively ordering the FAA to reinstate Barr. NBAA said it expects to receive more complete guidance from the FAA shortly, “But at this point it is clear that anyone currently blocking their movements as part of the FAA’s Certified Security Program will not have a gap in their ‘blocked’ status.” The FAA created the Certified Security Program post-Barr to allow operators with “bona fide” security concerns to block their tail numbers from online flight tracking sites. “It is also clear that the FAA will now accept new blocking requests, but as a result of the budget legislation, aircraft operators will no longer need to certify or even reference a ‘valid security concern’ to have their blocking request accepted,” NBAA said. Blocking requests can now be sent to the FAA at [email protected].