Jump to content

Aircraft registration

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Peep (talk | contribs) at 17:27, 19 March 2007 (→List of countries/regions and their current registration prefixes and patterns: trying a 350px map instead of 300px). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

This Cessna 150 displays the registration G-AVIT. The "G-" prefix denotes that it is registered in the United Kingdom.

An aircraft registration is a unique alphanumeric string that identifies a civilian aircraft. Because, airplanes typically display their registration numbers on the aft fuselage just forward of the tail, in earlier times more often on the tail itself), the registration is often referred to as the "tail number". In the United States, the registration number is also referred to as an "N-number"; as it starts with the letter N.

International standards

The International Civil Aviation Organization maintains the standards for aircraft registration. Article 20 of the Chicago Convention on International Civil Aviation requires that all signatory countries register aircraft over a certain weight with a national aviation authority. Upon registration, the aircraft receives its unique "registration" which must be displayed prominently on the aircraft. Annex 7 to the Convention on International Civil Aviation describes the definitions, location, and measurement of nationality and registration marks. The aircraft registration is made up of a prefix selected from the country's callsign prefix allocated by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) (making the registration a quick way of determining the country of origin) and the registration suffix. Depending on the country of registration, this suffix is a numeric or alphanumeric code and consists of one to five digits or characters respectively.

Country-specific usage

When painted on the fuselage, the prefix and suffix are separated by a dash (for example YR-BMA), however when entered in a flight plan, the dash is omitted (for example YRBMA). In the United States, the prefix and suffix are painted without a dash. Private aircraft usually use their registration as their radio callsign, but most commercial aircraft use the ICAO airline designator or a company callsign. In some instances, it may be sufficient to simply display the suffix letters, with the country prefix omitted. For example, gliders registered in Australia would omit the VH prefix and simply display the suffix. Obviously this is only suitable where the aircraft does not fly in the airspace of another country.

Even if the suffix consists solely of alphabetical characters in a certain country, gliders and ultralights may sometimes use digits instead. For example, in Germany, D-ABCD can be an aircraft while D-1234 is a glider. In Australia, early glider registration suffixes began with the letter "G", and it is not uncommon to find such gliders only displaying the last two letters of the suffix, as they lacked the range to travel internationally. For example, VH-GIQ would simply be displayed as IQ.

Different countries have different registration schemes: Canadian registrations start with C, British with G, German with D, and so forth. A comprehensive list is tabulated below.

United States

An N-number is an aircraft registration number used in the United States. All aircraft registered there have a number starting with N. Due to the large numbers of aircraft registered in the United States an alpha-numeric system is used. N-numbers may only consist of 1 to 5 characters and must start with a number other than zero and can not end in more than two letters. In addition, N-numbers may not contain the letters I or O, due to their close similarity with the numbers 1 and 0.[1]

Each alphabetic character in the suffix can have one of 24 discrete values, while each numeric digit can be one of 10, except the first, which can take on only nine values. This yields a total of 915,399 possible registration numbers in the namespace, though certain combinations are reserved either for government use or for other special purposes.[1]


The following are the combinations that could be used:

An older (pre-1950s) aircraft may have a second letter in its identifier, identifying the category of aircraft. This additional letter is not actually part of the aircraft identification (e.g. NC12345 is the same registration as N12345). Aircraft category letters have not been included on any registration numbers issued since about 1950, but they still appear on antique aircraft for authenticity purposes. The categories included:

  • C = standard
  • L = limited
  • R = restricted
  • X = experimental

For example, N-X-211, the Ryan NYP aircraft flown by Charles Lindbergh as the Spirit of St. Louis, was registered in the experimental category.

List of countries/regions and their current registration prefixes and patterns

The registration prefixes of Europe (click to enlarge).
Country / Region Registration Prefix Suffix Pattern
Afghanistan YA abc
Albania ZA abc
Algeria 7T abc
Andorra C3 abc
Angola D2 abc
Antigua and Barbuda V2 abc
Argentina LQ abc
Argentina LV abc
Armenia EK 12345
Aruba P4 abc
Australia VH abc
Austria OE abc
Azerbaijan 4K ab1 or ab12 or 12345
Bahamas C6 abc
Bahrain A9C ab or abc
Bangladesh S2 abc
Barbados 8P abc
Belarus EW 123ab or 12345
Belgium OO abc
Belize V3 abc
Benin TY abc
Bermuda Isles VP-B ab
Bhutan A5 abc
Bolivia CP 1234
Bosnia and Herzegovina T9 abc
Botswana A2 abc
Brazil PP abc
Brazil PR abc
Brazil PT abc
Brazil PU abc (reserved for ultralights)
British Virgin Islands VP-L ab
Brunei V8 abc or ab1 or 123
Bulgaria LZ abc
Burkina Faso XT abc
Burundi 9U abc
Cambodia XU 123
Cameroon TJ abc
Canada CF- abc
Canada C-F abc
Canada C-G abc
Canada C-I abc (ultralight aeroplanes only)
Canary Islands EC abc
Cape Verde D4 abc
Cayman Islands VP-C ab
Central African Republic TL abc
Chad TT abc
Chile CC abc
China, People's Republic B 1234
China, Republic (Taiwan) B 12345
Hong Kong, China B-H ab
Hong Kong, China B-K ab
Hong Kong, China B-L ab
Macau, China B-M ab
Colombia HK 1234a
Comoros D6 abc
Congo, Republic of TN abc
Cook Islands E5 abc
Congo, Democratic Republic of 9Q abc
Costa Rica TI abc
Croatia 9A abc
Cuba CUT 1234
Cyprus, Republic of 5B abc
Czech Republic OK abc or abc12 or 1234 or A123 [1]
Denmark OY abc
Denmark, Greenland and the Faroe Islands OY Hab (reserved for helicopters)
Denmark OY Xab (only gliders)
Denmark OY Bab (preferred for hot-air balloons)
Djibouti J2 abc
Dominica J7 abc
Dominican Republic HI 123ab
Ecuador HC abc
Egypt SU abc
El Salvador YS abc
Equatorial Guinea 3C abc
Eritrea E3 abc
Estonia ES abc
Ethiopia ET abc
Falkland Islands VP-F ab
Faroe Islands OY abc
Fiji Islands DQ abc
Finland OH abc
France F abcd
French West Indies FOG ab
French Guyana FO abc
Gabon TR abc
Gambia C5 abc
Georgia 4L 12345 or abc
Germany D abcd
Ghana 9G abc
Gibraltar VP-G ab
Greece SX abc
Greenland OY abc
Grenada J3 abc
Guatemala TG abc
Guinea 3X abc
Guinea Bissau J5 abc
Guyana 8R abc
Haiti HH abc
Honduras HR abc
Hungary HA abc
Iceland TF abc
India VT abc
Indonesia PK abc
Iran EP abc
Iraq YI abc
Ireland EI abc
Isle of Man M abcd
Israel 4X abc
Italy I abcd
Ivory Coast TU abc
Jamaica 6Y abc
Japan JA 1234 or 123a or 12ab or a123
Jordan JY abc
Kazakhstan UN 12345
Kenya 5Y abc
Kiribati T3 abc
Korea, People's Democratic Rep. P 123
Korea, Republic of HL 1234
Kuwait 9K abc
Kyrgyzstan EX 12345 or 123
Laos RDPL 12345
Latvia YL abc
Lebanon OD abc
Lesotho 7P abc
Liberia A8 abc
Libya 5A abc
Lithuania LY abc
Luxembourg LX abc
Macedonia Z3 abc
Madagascar 5R abc
Malawi 7Q abc
Malaysia 9M abc
Maldives 8Q abc
Mali TZ abc
Malta 9H abc
Marshall Islands V7 1234
Mauritania 5T abc
Mauritius 3B abc
Mexico XA abc
Mexico XB abc
Mexico XC abc
Micronesia V6 abc
Moldova ER abc or 12345
Monaco 3A abc
Mongolia JU 1234
Montserrat VP-L ab
Morocco CN abc
Mozambique C9 abc
Myanmar XY abc
Myanmar XZ abc
Namibia V5 abc
Nauru C2 abc
Nepal 9N abc
Netherlands PH abc
Netherlands Antilles PJ abc
New Zealand ZK abc
Nicaragua YN abc
Niger 5U abc
Nigeria 5N abc
Norway LN abc
Oman A4O ab
Pakistan AP abc
Panama HP 1234abc
Papua New Guinea P2 abc
Paraguay ZP abc
Peru OB 1234
Philippines RPC 1234
Poland SP abc
Portugal CS abc
Qatar A7 abc
Réunion Island FOD ab
Romania YR abc
Russian Federation RA 12345 or 1234K
Rwanda 9XR ab
Saint Helena VQ-H ab
Saint Kitts and Nevis V4 abc
Saint Lucia J6 abc
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines J8 abc
Samoa 5W abc
San Marino T7 abc
São Tomé and Príncipe S9 abc
Saudi Arabia HZ abc or ab1 or ab12 or abc1
Senegal 6V abc
Senegal 6W abc
Serbia YU abc
Seychelles S7 abc
Sierra Leone 9L abc
Singapore 9V abc
Slovakia OM abc
Slovenia S5 abc
Solomon Islands H4 abc
Somalia 6O abc
South Africa ZS abc
South Africa ZT abc
South Africa ZU abc
Spain EC abc
Sri Lanka 4R abc
Sudan ST abc
Surinam PZ abc
Swaziland 3D abc
Sweden SE abc
Switzerland HB abc
Syria YK abc
Tahiti FOH ab
Tajikistan EY 12345
Tanzania 5H abc
Thailand HS abc
Togo 5V abc
Tonga A3 abc
Trinidad and Tobago 9Y abc
Tunisia TS abc
Turkey TC abc
Turkmenistan EZ a123
Turks and Caicos VQ-T ab
Tuvalu T2 abc
Uganda 5X abc
Ukraine UR 12345 or abc
United Arab Emirates A6 abc
United Kingdom G abcd
United Nations 4U abc
United States of America N 1 to 5 digits no letters, 1 to 4 digits one letter, 1 to 3 digits two letters
Uruguay CX abc
Uzbekistan UK 12345
Vanuatu YJ ab1 or ab12
Venezuela YV 123
Vietnam VN 1234
Yemen 7O abc
Zambia 9J abc
Zimbabwe Z abc

References

  1. ^ a b c d FAA registration numbering scheme

See also

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Aircraft_registration&oldid=116301602"