Professional Pilot, October 2019

Nav fees and implications for international travel I nternational nav fees are not an overly complex realm to manage and comply with but there are considerations that corporate aircraft operators need to be mindful of International support providers ISPs recall cases of operators being denied permits or having flight plans rejected because of overdue nav payments Moreover managing nav fee payments is not always straightforward You may for example need to settle charges via 3rd party providers located in the particular country and it could take 72 hours or more to register payments with various civil aviation authorities Flight permits and flight plan filings are occasionally held up and this can happen anywhere in the world says Jeppesen Vendor Relations Specialist Jeff Rupprecht Its important to ensure any overdue nav fees are settled before operating international flights He continues In our experience about 50 of operators choose to pay nav fees directly while the other 50 use 3rd party providers to 62 PROFESSIONAL PILOT October 2019 avoid dealing with potential payment issues and currency considerations While some international nav fees might amount to just a couple of hundred dollars they can run much higher in certain cases These fees usually based on distance flown and MTOW can be particularly high in China and Russia notes ITPS VP Sales Steve Rapacki We recommend budgeting on nav fees of about 2500 flight leg in Russia and 3000 6000 per flight leg in China On a recent client flight from Shanghai to Italy nav fee and associated charges came out at 6150 This included enroute nav charges of 1800 airspace compensation fees of 3000 and 1250 in service charges Sticker shock can be an issue for new operators to Russia or China Payment methods Almost every country assesses nav fees to aircraft transiting their airspace In most cases charges are based on distance and MTOW In the case of Mexico fees are determined based on distance and wingspan Note that for Mexico you must use routing distance as published on an online chart rather than simply great circle distance Youll usually be invoiced nav charges within 30 or 45 days billed to whoever filed the permit request or flight plan In some cases nav fees might not be invoiced until 3 to 4 months after the fact Nav fees for India although not high may not be billed for 6 months Rapacki observes that Saudi Arabia undertakes records reviews every 3 years or so and may bill you a lump sum at that time Curaçao has an online system for nav fee payments and accounts Just be sure that your tail number is registered on your account or your ISPs account Its fairly easy and quick to process Curaçao nav fees with online management says Jeppesen International Trip Specialist Steve Leathem When you file a flight plan the system automatically takes the nav fee payment from your account However if the account balance is too low theyll reject your flight plan INTERNATIONAL OPS Costs and payment methods vary depending on the country or region but experienced ISPs can help you avoid headaches By Grant McLaren Editor at Large Collins Aerospace ArincDirect international support providers ISPs help global bizav operators proactively manage international nav fees and payment requirements Image courtesy Collins Aerospace