Sept; 2, 2025
General aviation, which includes business aircraft, now leads in controller pilot data link communications (CPDLC) equipage, according to recent data from the FAA.
The most recent En-Route CPDCL Participation list, published July 23, 2025, identified 3,919 GA aircraft currently eligible to participate in U.S. Domestic En Route CPDLC.
It also showed:
- In the past three months, 3,689 GA aircraft have used En Route CPDLC
- In the past three months, 3,473 mainline operator aircraft have used En Route CPDLC
While the number of aircraft using En Route CDPLC is not equal to the number of CPDLC transactions, because airlines typically conduct more flights in a day, this data demonstrates the business aviation communities’ commitment to adopting equipment to increase safety and improve efficiency in the National Airspace System.
“The business aviation community has stepped up to make the financial and hardware commitment to participate in CPDLC and help the FAA make the domestic CPDLC program a success,” said Richard Boll, chair of NBAA’s Airspace and Flight Technologies Subcommittee. “We are also seeing an expansion in CPDLC equipage beyond the types of aircraft we saw equip initially.”
Initially equipage was seen in large fractional and management companies conducting oceanic operations, Boll said, but now more domestic operators with domestic operations are equipping for CPDLC. There are also more avionics options for retrofitting older aircraft, with even small turboprops equipping for CPDLC.
Boll said he anticipates an updated “red, yellow, green” list of acceptable avionics configurations for U.S. Domestic En Route CPDLC later this year.
When an avionics package first applies for CPDLC eligibility, it is placed on the yellow list while its performance is assessed within the U.S. En Route CPDLC system. Avionics systems on the red list have identified performance issues and are not eligible for participation. The green list indicates successful completion of trials and FAA approval to participate in U.S. domestic En Route.
Currently, no equipment is on the green list. However, the updated list should include some “green” equipment for the first time.
International Business Aviation Council Ltd.