CAA’s airspace change process

The seven stages

  1. Develop design principles

    Airspace change sponsors gather views from a range of stakeholders on their ‘design principles’. These inform how future flight paths are designed and ensure the best balance of priorities between stakeholders. The sponsor then sends their final set of design principles to the Civil Authority (CAA) for approval.

  2. Review design principles

    The design principles are used to help develop and evaluate potential options for future airspace changes, and stakeholders are asked for their views again at this stage. These then go through an ‘initial’ appraisal before being sent to the CAA for approval and publication on their website.

  3. Consultation launch

    The sponsor conducts another appraisal to further narrow the options and launches a full public consultation on their proposed airspace changes.

  4. Submit proposals

    The sponsor uses the feedback from the consultation to refine, update and then submit their final proposals to the CAA.

  5. Evaluation by the CAA

    The CAA makes a full assessment and decides whether to approve the proposed airspace changes. The Secretary of State for Transport may decide to look into specific airspace change proposals and make the decision on whether to approve these.

  6. Airspace change implementation

    If approved, the airspace changes are put in place.

  7. Post implementation review

    After around a year of operation, the CAA will review the changes as part of a Post Implementation Review.