New FAA Guides Detail Streamlined LOA Process for Transoceanic Flights

Aug. 3, 2023

The FAA recently published new Oceanic and Remote Continental Operations Application Guides, one for certificated operators (i.e., Parts 91(K), 121, 125 and 135) and one for Part 91 operators. The guides help operators apply for operations specifications (OpSpecs) or letters of authorization (LOAs) required for transoceanic flight.

The Part 91 Application Guide includes information about the new streamlined letter of authorization (LOA) process, which can shave months off the authorization timeline for operators taking ownership of new aircraft directly from the manufacturer.

Using the guides is highly recommended to ensure timely processing of applications, though the guides are not mandatory. Applications currently in progress do not need to be revised to follow the new guides but the FAA requests future applications use these new procedures.

“These new application guides are the next step in communicating the FAA’s initiative to streamline LOA processing,” said Brian Koester, CAM, NBAA’s director of flight operations and regulations. “We encourage both Part 91 and certificated operators to use the application guides in their next oceanic and remote authorizations applications.”

The application guides include new accommodations for oceanic authorizations in:

• B036, Oceanic and Remote Continental Navigation Using Multiple Long-Range Navigation Systems, for oceanic RNP-2 (for all operators)
• B039 Operations in North Atlantic (NAT) High Level Airspace (HLA) (for all operators)
• B037 Operations in Central East Pacific (CEP) Airspace and B038 Operations in North Pacific (NOPAC) Airspace (for certificated operators only)

The FAA has updated WebOPSS guidance to include the new applications guide link, as well as the Operations Approval Portal System.

Other FAA-managed resources will be updated soon. AFS-400, the Flight Technologies and Procedures Division, has initiated a change request for the FAA Order 8900.1 (Flight Standards Information Manual System). The agency will update Resource Guides for the North Atlantic (NAT), the Pacific (PAC), the West Atlantic (WAT) Gulf of Mexico (GOMEX) and Caribbean during the next scheduled update in October.