It is important to note that ‘export’ of an aircraft in this context relates to the removal of an aircraft from the Fiji Register of Aircraft – known as ‘de-registration’ – and not when the aircraft physically leaves the country.

An aircraft on the Fiji Register of Aircraft must comply with Fiji’s Air Navigation Regulations, regardless of where in the world it’s located or operating.

An aircraft may be ‘exported’, i.e. removed from the Fiji Register of Aircraft, or de-registered, either while it’s still in Fiji, or when it’s already positioned in another country.

For Aircraft engines, propellers, and other aeronautical products; these may be exported separately.

In this case, ‘export’ does mean simply shipping the component from Fiji to a foreign country.

It’s very important components are accompanied by the correct documentation to ensure they are acceptable to the importing country.

An export airworthiness certificate is designed to assist the official transfer of an aircraft from one national airworthiness authority to another. It’s primarily aimed at the authority of the importing country, to facilitate the transfer from the register of the exporting country. It’s not primarily intended for the use of the aircraft purchaser or importer.

The export airworthiness certificate says the aircraft conforms to the aircraft type certificate, including compliance with all airworthiness directives and maintenance requirements. It does not say the aircraft complies with any agreements or contracts between the vendor and purchaser; nor does it constitute authority to operate the aircraft.

The export airworthiness certificate is valid on the day it’s issued. It’s effectively a ‘snapshot’ of the aircraft and its supporting documentation on that day.

There’s no Air Navigation Regulation saying you must get an export airworthiness certificate to export an aircraft. Whether you need one or not is largely down to the requirements of the national airworthiness authority of the importing state and/or the intending foreign owner/operator.

But we strongly advise an exporter to obtain an export airworthiness certificate, as it should facilitate the entry of the aircraft onto the register of the country it’s being exported to.

As part of the issue of an export airworthiness certificate, we’ll ensure the aircraft meets the requirements of the importing country, so the exporter would know in advance the aircraft is basically acceptable to the importing country.

Only aircraft which have been type-certificated or type-accepted are eligible for the issue of an export airworthiness certificate. Amateur-built aircraft, warbird aircraft, or any other aircraft holding an airworthiness certificate in the Special category are not eligible.

That’s because an export airworthiness certificate certifies conformity to a type certificate, and only aircraft that have been type-certificated are eligible. If that type certificate was issued outside Fiji it must have been type-accepted in Fiji.

An aircraft must be registered to be eligible for the issue of an export airworthiness certificate, and it must be available for inspection.

Only we can issue an export airworthiness certificate. The aircraft owner or their appointed agent applies to us for issue of an export airworthiness certificate.

An aircraft is eligible for issue of an export airworthiness certificate when the Airworthiness requirements, as specified in the CAAF Standards Documents, have been met:

It would be eligible for issue of a Fiji airworthiness certificate. (This does not mean simply that the aircraft has a current, valid Fiji airworthiness certificate. It means on the date of inspection for the export airworthiness certificate, it meets all the requirements for issue of a Fiji airworthiness certificate.)

• The aircraft has had a 100 hr/annual inspection, or equivalent inspection, within the preceding 60 days.
• The aircraft meets the requirements of the importing state, in that:
• The aircraft conforms to a type design acceptable to the importing state
• Any special conditions of the importing state are met
• Any exceptions are acceptable to the importing state.

In practice, there are two largely separate CAA activities involved in the issue of an export airworthiness certificate.

Firstly, it determines the requirements of the importing state. If requested to by the applicant, we’ll contact the authority of the importing state, on behalf of the applicant, to determine whether the basic aircraft type design is acceptable to them and whether they have any special requirements.

We maintain information of aircraft types and countries, which have advised that the aircraft type is acceptable to them, to minimise the number of new enquiries that must be made. For aircraft being returned to their country of manufacture it can be assumed the basic type design is acceptable to that country.

Another requirement for acceptance by the importing country relates to exceptions. An exception is a discrepancy, which could consist of a non-conformity with the type design or a non-conformity, which must be listed on the export airworthiness certificate. A ferry fuel system not fully meeting applicable airworthiness requirements would be a typical exception appearing on an export airworthiness certificate. If there are any exceptions, these need to be agreed to by the importing country before the issue of the certificate. It’s important therefore to identify any exceptions early, as obtaining acceptance of these can be time-consuming.

Secondly, we inspect the aircraft and its maintenance records. This inspection is basically the same as would occur if we were carrying out an inspection for initial issue of a New Zealand airworthiness certificate. We’ll review all the aircraft maintenance records and inspect the aircraft to ensure the aircraft conforms to its basic type design, complies with all applicable rules, including airworthiness directives, and is in a condition for safe operation.

We’ll give full details of this inspection at the time of application for issue of the export airworthiness certificate. In general, the we won’t carry out the inspection until the requirements of the importing country are known.

As the export airworthiness certificate is valid only on the date of issue, the certificate must be issued very close to the actual date of inspection. If there are any delays between the inspection and the issue of the certificate, which could be caused by discrepancies found during the inspection, which requires either rectification or listing the discrepancy as an exception on the export airworthiness certificate, (which itself requires the acceptance of the CAA of the importing country), a further inspection may be required.

There’s no initial application fee but our standard per-hour fee applies. For a typical general aviation aircraft where there were no complications a typical time for the complete job would be between 8 and 12 hours. If the aircraft is a more complex type or there were exceptions on the export airworthiness certificate, which required additional liaison with the airworthiness authority of the importing country, this could increase the cost of the job.

It may be possible to obtain an export airworthiness certificate for an incomplete or otherwise non-airworthy aircraft, (such as an accident-damaged aircraft.) This will depend on the aviation authority of the importing country. Missing components, or any other reason for the aircraft not being airworthy, will have to be specified accurately as an exception on the export airworthiness certificate, and this exception would have to be accepted by the aviation authority of the importing country before issue of the certificate.

If you would like further details about the issue of an export airworthiness certificate, or an estimate of the cost of obtaining an export airworthiness certificate for your aircraft, contact our airworthiness unit.