Industry feedback does not oppose Australia’s proposal to introduce a digital annual registration requirement for all VH-registered aircraft starting in July 2027. The country’s Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) received 718 comments on its proposal to update and modernize aircraft registration, published in July, from a range of stakeholders: aircraft owners, operators, pilots, engineers, aviation organizations, and others in the aviation community. “No recurring theme emerged that would make the scheme unworkable or prevent implementation,” concluded CASA.
“Respondents identified a range of considerations relating to affordability, administration, and implementation, while feedback largely focused on how the scheme should be designed and implemented rather than opposition to the concept itself,” said the authority. “We are considering the feedback as policy development progresses. Your feedback will help inform decisions about the final design of the annual VH aircraft registration scheme and how it should be implemented.”
The agency now has a one-off registration that remains valid indefinitely, supported by periodic updates. “In practice, this approach has proven inefficient and unreliable,” said CASA.
Under the proposal, an annual fee will start on July 1, 2028. Three options were proposed for structuring the annual registration cost: a $72 flat-rate levy applied to all VH-registered aircraft; between $50 and $250 per aircraft under a mtow-based levy; and between $40 and $500 per aircraft using weight and category.
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