The FAA will issue a Direct Final Rule extending the registration interval for general aviation aircraft and the new seven-year duration applies to all GA aircraft. Until 2010, aircraft registrations lasted for the life of the aircraft but that resulted in a lot of inaccurate and ghost registrations on the books. In 2010, the agency made all operators re-register their planes and set a three-year limit for re-registration. The alphabets argued that was too onerous for private operators and got the ear of Congress. The 2018 FAA reauthorization mandated the agency extend the limit to seven years for non-commercial aircraft.
That caused an issue for the FAA because use and not aircraft type defines the distinction between commercial and private operation. “Consequently, it is impracticable to have different durations for commercial and noncommercial general aviation aircraft registrations,” the final rule says. “Therefore, the FAA is extending the registration duration for all aircraft to seven years.” As before, re-registration has to take place by the end of the month of the anniversary of the existing registration.
