Saudi Arabia overflight permits

01Who issues Saudi permits

The General Authority of Civil Aviation (GACA) issues landing and overflight clearances through its Clearance Web Channel, which handles commercial, private and diplomatic clearances. Requests are normally submitted through an approved agent or handler. Both private and charter flights need permits for overflight and landing, with the same information required for each.

02Lead time and validity

Published guidance has put the official lead time at five business days for overflight and three for landing, with short-notice requests at GACA's discretion. In practice, complete requests are often processed in about two business days. GACA does not work on Friday or Saturday.

Landing permits are typically valid for ±24 hours around the scheduled time, and single overflight permits for around 72 hours. Any change needs a revision, filed at least 24 hours ahead. The routing in the request has to match the ICAO flight plan exactly, or the request must be resubmitted.

03Documents for a Saudi Arabia permit

Provide the following with the request:

• AOC, or registration for private flights
• Insurance certificate with war-risk cover
• Certificate of airworthiness and noise certificate
• Schedule in UTC and routing with FIR entry and exit points
• Crew passport details and nationalities, and the passenger list

Overflight requests do not need sponsor or handler details; landing requests do.

04Domestic charter flights since 2025

From 1 May 2025, GACA lifted cabotage restrictions for foreign on-demand charter operators, who can now apply for permission to fly domestic legs within the Kingdom.

05How we handle Saudi permits

Send us the aircraft, routing and schedule. Our OCC checks the current Saudi requirements for your flight type, prepares the request, files it and follows it up until the permit number is issued. We then pass it to the crew and the flight plan, and revise it if the schedule moves.

We arrange the permits for the rest of the routing in the same trip file, with overflight permits for the countries you cross and landing permits at your destination.