Overview

Cabotage refers to the transport of goods or passengers between two locations within the same country. In aviation, cabotage rights allow a company from one country to operate flights within the domestic borders of another country.

However, the majority of countries prohibit aviation cabotage. A key exception is the European Union, where member states mutually grant cabotage rights to one another. For further details on Air Freedom rights, click here.

How does it work?

• Certificate Country: On the Aircrafts geography page, the system will auto-populate the aircraft’s certificate country as the primary cabotage country.
• Multilateral agreement: If a country is part of a multilateral agreement, we will show an info icon. EU Operators will automatically grant all EU countries by default.
• Permits: If you have additional permits for specific countries or regions that grant the aircraft cabotage rights, please contact support, and we’ll be happy to assist you!

Avinode Search

In Avinode Search, the general rule is that operators likely capable of performing a trip should appear in the search results. It’s the operator’s responsibility to verify cabotage permissions and ensure they are permitted to complete the trip.

Cabotage restrictions are enforced in some countries. This means only foreign aircraft with a valid cabotage permit will appear in search results for these locations.

The following countries have enforced cabotage:

• Australia
• Brazil
• Canada
• EU (all countries)
• Japan
• Mexico
• New Zealand
• Russian Federation
• Switzerland
• United Kingdom (England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales)
• United States