AIRAC — Aeronautical Information Regulation and Control

AIRAC — Aeronautical Information Regulation and Control

AIRAC (Aeronautical Information Regulation And Control) is the internationally agreed system that makes operationally significant changes to aeronautical information — new procedures, airspace boundaries, frequencies, runways — take effect on fixed, pre-announced dates worldwide. For a PPL pilot, AIRAC is the reason charts and navigation databases carry a validity date, and it explains why you must always fly with current publications. The cycle length, effective day and lead times are classic exam items.

Purpose and core principle

Flight operations depend on everyone — pilots, ATC, chart and database providers — working from identical, validated information. ICAO therefore defines AIRAC in Annex 15 §6.2 and Appendix 4: certain "critical" changes may only become effective on specified AIRAC effective dates, and the information must be distributed far enough in advance that every user has received and processed it before it takes effect.

A practical example: if a control zone boundary or your aerodrome's frequency changes, the change is published as an AIRAC amendment weeks in advance and becomes effective on the next AIRAC date — never spontaneously in between.

The AIRAC cycle

What is promulgated under AIRAC (Appendix 4)

• AIP amendments with operational impact: changes to procedures, airspace structure, frequencies, runways.
• Establishment, relocation or decommissioning of radio navigation aids.
• New routes, procedures and airspace.
• Permanent obstacles of operational significance.

AIRAC versus NOTAM

AIRAC handles planned, calendar-locked changes. Short-notice or unforeseeable information — an unserviceable navaid, a temporarily closed runway — cannot wait for an AIRAC date and is distributed by NOTAM instead. The two systems complement each other; AIRAC is not a substitute for NOTAM, and vice versa.

AIRAC AIP Amendment versus AIP Supplement

• AIRAC AIP Amendment (AMDT) — a permanent change to the AIP; replacement pages are incorporated into the AIP itself.
• AIP Supplement (SUP) — a temporary change of longer duration (typically three months to a year), published as a separate document alongside the AIP.

Europe (EASA / EU)

EU-wide harmonisation is achieved through Regulation (EU) 2017/373, Annex VI (Part-AIS), which binds European AIS providers to the AIRAC system. EUROCONTROL publishes the AIRAC effective-dates calendar, which is identical to the ICAO calendar.

Germany (national)

The DFS (Deutsche Flugsicherung) operates the AIRAC amendment process for the German AIP. The AIRAC effective dates are published in AIP GEN 3.1 and in the DFS AIRAC calendar.

Exam essentials

• The AIRAC cycle is a fixed 28-day cycle, giving 13 cycles per year.
• AIRAC effective dates always fall on a Thursday at 00
  UTC.
• Routine AIRAC information must reach users at least 28 days before the effective date; major changes require at least 56 days, in special cases up to 84 days.
• Operationally significant planned changes (procedures, airspace, frequencies, navaids, runways) may only become effective on AIRAC dates.
• Short-notice or unforeseeable information is distributed by NOTAM, not by AIRAC.
• An AIRAC AIP Amendment is a permanent AIP change; an AIP Supplement is a temporary change published as a separate document.