AIN Staff

At first glance, planning a domestic flight seems fairly straightforward. With a chosen destination, an approved flight plan, and a weather briefing, it usually doesn’t get much more complex. While there are instances where flight crews must divert due to unforeseen circumstances or weather, these issues can typically be mitigated through preflight planning. More often than not, the biggest challenges involve managing passengers’ changing schedules and minimizing the downstream effects.
However, when operations shift to international flight planning—requiring crossing borders or oceans—things become vastly more complicated, especially for anyone unaccustomed to planning such flights. Frequent airspace and geopolitical changes can complicate international routes, even for the most experienced operators.
As the saying goes, “failing to plan is planning to fail,” and that couldn’t be more true in the context of international flight planning. What if an airspace along a familiar route suddenly becomes unavailable, making overflight restricted? Now, a route your flight crew and passengers are used to takes 45 minutes longer due to the deviation. Or maybe someone on the team forgets to arrange ramp space, or a required permit isn’t filed, and now landing at that airport isn’t an option. All of these challenges can frustrate customers or principals and, in more severe cases, lead to penalties and fines.
While there are great resources available to help flight planners and operators navigate these challenges, the information found online isn’t always the most up-to-date. And if you have questions, there may not always be a forum or support line available for quick answers.
But what if there were a way to ensure flawless trip execution and put your mind at ease, knowing that every detail of a trip—permits, catering, accommodations, fuel, clearances, and everything in between— were taken care of? That’s what a team of licensed trip support professionals can do for your operation. They monitor your flight from start to finish and ensure a backup plan is ready when things don’t go accordingly. These regional experts treat every flight with the utmost care, helping streamline your operation and maximize efficiency.
<h1><a name="_t0gcao3gu70q"></a>What Is Trip Support?</h1>
Trip support in business aviation involves comprehensive planning and coordination of services to streamline operations, including everything from flight planning and permits to ground handling and regulatory compliance. In some instances, trip support goes beyond flight operations, coordinating services like ground transportation and hotel accommodations. It meets your operation where it’s at, filling in gaps as needed.
<h2><a name="_ld3b6z6f91il"></a>Common Challenges of International Flights</h2>
Regulatory Hurdles and Global Compliance:
Every industry has regulations to ensure safe operations, and business aviation is no exception. However, aviation regulations are among the strictest and are constantly changing—sometimes without much notice.
In April of 2024, the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) updated their <a href="https://www.icao.int/EURNAT/EUR%20and%20NAT%20Documents/NAT%20Documents/NAT%20Documents/NAT%20Doc%20007/NAT%20Doc%20007%20Ed%20V.2024-1_Amd_4_eff%2021MAR2024.pdf">NAT Doc 007</a> to highlight the removal of Oceanic Clearances over the North Atlantic. They cited improvements in communications and surveillance as the driving factor behind this change. The Santa Maria and Reykjavik regions implemented this change on <a href="https://ops.group/blog/nat-changes-2024-no-more-oceanic-clearances/">March 21, 2024</a>. The Bodø oceanic region attempted to implement the change on June 17, but were not successful in doing so. They have since reverted back to requiring an Oceanic Clearance and will try to align the removal of Clearances with the Shanwick and Gander regions on December 4, 2024.
This repeated shuffling of dates highlights one of the bigger challenges for operators and pilots—aligning cockpit procedures and flight plans with the inconsistent rollout of international regulations. Utilizing internal team members to stay up-to-date with these global compliance changes increases the workload and decreases operational efficiency.

Security and Safety
An often overlooked aspect of trip planning is managing security while overseas. Unfortunately, corruption is common in some regions, so having trusted local connections or security teams in place upon arrival is essential. It’s also important to consider <a href="https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/traveladvisories/traveladvisories.html/" target="_blank">travel advisories</a> provided by the U.S. Department of State to determine the safety of your destination prior to flight planning. These advisories rank countries on a scale from 1 (exercise normal caution) to 4 (do not travel), taking into account factors such as crime, terrorism, civil unrest, natural disasters, and more.
Along with the safety and security of passengers and flight crews, aircraft security is another important thing to consider when planning a flight—both domestically and internationally. Modern cockpits rely on GPS technology to navigate and as geopolitical conflicts pop up, the risk of satellite navigation interference becomes an increasingly common threat to operations. There are two types of GPS interference:
<ul>
<li style="margin-left:8px">GPS jamming occurs when a signal is intentionally blocked, preventing devices from using GPS for navigation. This prevents aircraft avionics from receiving position information and pilots from flying procedures or routes that require a high level of precision.</li>
</ul>
&nbsp;
<ul>
<li style="margin-left:8px">GPS spoofing occurs when false GPS signals are broadcasted in an attempt to mislead devices that are using GPS position for navigation. Aircraft avionics are affected by this, which could lead pilots to follow an incorrect route. Although aircraft navigation systems have redundancies to mitigate when this is happening, other important systems—such as the ground proximity warning system (GPWS)—could be impacted.</li>
</ul>
One example of unexpected GPS spoofing occurred on . An Embraer Legacy 650 flying on Airway UM688 experienced GPS spoofing that routed them 80 nm off track and nearly directed them into Iran’s airspace without ATC clearance.

<h3>Limited Regional Expertise</h3>
At a basic level, the aviation industry is standardized globally. Whether you’re departing from KHND (Henderson Executive) or RJTT (Tokyo International), the language you speak and read remains the same. However, beyond that, each region and airport has its own rules and nuances that may catch unfamiliar flight crews off guard. This could include noise abatement procedures, specific operating hours, closures due to local holidays, or particular documentation requirements. Unless your flight planner is familiar with that region, researching all the requirements for flying into that country's airport could take hours, slowing down operations.
This also becomes costly when purchasing services like fuel or catering, as it takes time to establish relationships with reputable vendors and access partner pricing tiers. A qualified trip support provider will have built these relationships in advance and know the right vendor for your needs.
<h2>How Does It Help Operators?</h2>
Leveraging a Trip Support provider who is an expert in the regions where your organization operates is invaluable for ensuring trips are conducted smoothly and comply with local and international regulations. Moreover, certified dispatchers enhance safety within an operation due to clearly defined operational responsibilities, standardized certification criteria, and training that ensures they effectively support pilots in preflight and in-flight decision-making.
The NTSB is <a href="https://www.ainonline.com/aviation-news/business-aviation/2024-08-13/ntsb-calls-certified-dispatchers-expanded-manifests-part" target="_blank">specifically calling</a> for the FAA to require Part 135 operations to use certified flight dispatchers after an extensive investigation concluded in 2022. After “a cluster of safety issues emerged” from Part 135 accidents between 2010 and 2022, a common issue cited in the report was “a lack of certified dispatchers for some operations.” More than a dozen accidents involved operational control or flight-locating deficiencies and according to an NTSB spokesperson, “these deficiencies could all be addressed through the required use of certificated dispatchers.”
Additional benefits of using a trip support provider include:
<ul>
<li style="margin-left:8px">Enabling efficient operations: Pilots can focus on the execution of the flight rather than coordinating services, researching regions, or filing permits.</li>
</ul>
&nbsp;
<ul>
<li style="margin-left:8px">Off-hours support: Trip support providers monitor your flights and track weather outside of your organization's normal operating hours.</li>
</ul>
&nbsp;
<ul>
<li style="margin-left:8px">Faster scaling opportunities: Each aircraft type and mission profile is unique. Instead of spending time training flight planners on new information prior to accepting a trip, trip support providers can quickly match the right expert to your mission from their resources.</li>
</ul>
<h2>What Makes ForeFlight Trip Support Different?</h2>
<a href="https://ba.foreflight.com/solutions/trip-support?utm_source=AIN&amp;utm_medium=AIN_native_article&amp;utm_campaign=embedded_link&amp;utm_term=trip_support_solutions&amp;utm_content=digital" target="_blank">ForeFlight Trip Support</a>, enabled by Jeppesen ITPS, has developed a robust global vendor network of top- quality providers to ensure accurate trip quotes that won’t surprise your organization at the end of the trip. With offices in over 17 regions worldwide, a knowledgeable, region-specific expert is always available to assist with your trip planning.
One major benefit of leveraging trip support through ForeFlight—rather than another provider—is the ability to access all of our services directly within the ForeFlight ecosystem and ForeFlight Mobile. From preflight planning and real-time enroute flight tracking to verifying the status of requested trip services, everything your team needs is available within a single platform.

<h2 style="margin-top:24px; margin-bottom:8px">Final Thoughts</h2>
International trip planning truly is a specialized art form. It demands expertise, precision, and foresight to understand regional regulations, safety protocols, and nuances between aircraft makes and models. As business aviation operators continue to expand globally, so do the challenges that operators face.
ForeFlight Trip Support isn't just a service; it's an extension of your operation, offering specialized support and invaluable regional knowledge precisely where and when you need it. In the world of international aviation, every detail can be the difference between a good trip and an exceptional one. With ForeFlight, excellence begins at the planning stage, setting the course for success long before takeoff.
&lt;&lt;<a href="https://ba.foreflight.com/offers/trip-support?utm_source=AIN&amp;utm_medium=AIN_native_article&amp;utm_campaign=embedded_link&amp;utm_term=trip_support_offers&amp;utm_content=digital" target="_blank">Unlock the power of precision global trip planning</a>&gt;&gt;

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