Registration & Documentation

Aircraft registration and documentation services

Every aircraft has to be entered on a national register, such as the FAA Aircraft Registry in the United States or the UK CAA register, and its ownership, airworthiness and maintenance records have to be kept in order for its whole life. Companies in this category handle that paperwork: registration and de-registration, transfers between registers when an aircraft is bought or sold abroad, owner trusts, title searches and escrow, import and export filings, and technical manuals and records.

Purchasers, sellers, lessors, lenders and operators use these specialists most often during a transaction. A common example is the FAA owner trust, which lets a non-US citizen keep an aircraft on the US N-register. For financed aircraft, interests are also usually recorded on the International Registry set up under the Cape Town Convention. Check that the provider has handled the specific registers and jurisdictions involved in your transaction, and ask who is liable if a filing is wrong.

Companies here are based across the United States, the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man, Guernsey, Sweden, the Netherlands and Ireland, among others.

• TVPX, FAA owner trust and US customs brokerage firm for aircraft registration and import and export
• Delaware Aircraft Trust, FAA owner trust, N-registration and transaction support
• Insured Aircraft Title Service, Oklahoma City aircraft title and escrow company
• SkySure, UK aviation consultancy managing registry selection and registration applications
• Oxtons, Isle of Man firm handling aircraft registration and owner trusts
• 2-REG Aircraft Registry, Guernsey aircraft registry for private, corporate and lessor-owned aircraft
• Web Manuals, Swedish software platform for writing and distributing aviation manuals

Registration work is closely tied to aircraft sales, aircraft financing and aviation attorneys, who draft the contracts and handle closings. For freight paperwork rather than aircraft paperwork, see our guide to air cargo documentation and customs clearance.