Overflight permits and diplomatic clearances

01What an overflight permit is

An overflight permit, also called an overflight clearance, is a state's authorisation for a foreign aircraft to enter and cross its airspace without landing. It is issued against a specific routing, usually given as the points where the flight enters and leaves the country's flight information regions (FIRs), and for a time window around the planned entry time.

Scheduled airlines often fly under bilateral agreements, but non-scheduled, private, cargo and state flights frequently need a permit for each flight. Some countries require none for private aircraft; others require one for every foreign-registered flight. The flight must not enter the airspace until the permit is issued.

02Do you need an overflight permit?

Whether a permit is needed, and how long it takes, depends on:

• The countries your route crosses, and their rules for your flight type.
• The purpose of the flight: private, charter, cargo, medevac or state.
• The aircraft's state of registry; some countries treat aircraft from particular states differently.
• The cargo: dangerous goods, weapons or munitions need declaring, and some states refuse them in their airspace.

Our dispatchers check every country on the routing when the flight is planned, so a missing permit doesn't surface at the FIR boundary.

03Diplomatic clearances for state aircraft

Military, government and other state aircraft are not covered by the civil permit system. They need a diplomatic clearance, normally requested by the operator's embassy through the foreign ministry of each country overflown or visited. Lead times are often longer than for civil permits, and some states need the request weeks in advance.

We prepare the requests, coordinate with the embassies and ministries involved and track every clearance number against the routing, alongside the civil permits for any legs flown under civil status.

04Information needed for an overflight request

Most authorities ask for the following. Some also want the documents listed on our landing permits page.

• Operator name, address and contact, and the billing address for navigation charges
• Aircraft registration, type, MTOW and call sign
• Date, departure and destination airports
• FIR entry and exit points, with estimated times in UTC
• Purpose of flight and the number of passengers, or a description of the cargo
• Dangerous goods declaration, if carried
• Copies of the certificate of registration, airworthiness and insurance, where required

05Validity, revisions and short-notice overflights

A permit is normally valid for a window around the planned entry time; the tolerance varies by country, from a few hours to several days. If the flight is delayed beyond it, the routing changes or the registration changes, the permit must be revised before the flight. We monitor schedules in the trip file and request revisions or extensions before the window closes.

For short-notice overflight permits, we file as soon as the routing is confirmed and work with the authority directly. Where a country cannot issue in time, we look at alternative routings that avoid its airspace or cross airspace that needs no permit for your flight. We also handle the navigation charges that follow every overflight, so invoices are reconciled against the flights actually flown.