We maintain the New Zealand aircraft register, which contains information about registered aircraft in this country.

What is in the aircraft register?

There are actually two registers: the full register maintained for our purposes, and an online register available to the public.

Our register includes details like:

  • registration mark allocated to each aircraft
  • description of each aircraft (manufacturer and/or model)
  • serial number of each aircraft
  • if applicable, the description of the identifiable paint scheme and approved markings
  • maximum certificated take-off weight (MCTOW) for each aircraft
  • name and postal address (as advised by the applicant) of each aircraft’s registered owner
  • aircraft class
  • flight manual number
  • mode S code country/aircraft
  • the aircraft’s registration history (eg, dates registered, change of possession, but not name and address information)

Addresses noted on the online register

The online register and the full register contain largely the same information. The key difference is the online register displays only the postal address of the owner and not their ‘address for service’.

The postal address listed on the online register can be any address you choose. You can use a post office box address, a lawyer’s address, or a company address. But it must be an address from which you collect mail regularly and follow up on it, if necessary. We send safety-critical information to this address, and other material including invoices and safety publications.

Removal of details from the online register

Since it’s public, you can ask for your personal details to be removed from the online register. Your request will be usually processed within two business days.

If your aircraft is registered in the name of a company

You cannot remove a company name and postal address from the online register. They’re not personal information and are therefore not subject to the Privacy Act 2020. Information about registered companies, including the registered office address and address for service, are already publicly available on the Companies Office website.

If your aircraft is registered in the name of a partnership, syndicate, club, trust, or society

The table below provides some guidance about the removal of details.

Type

Can details be removed?

Comment

A Limited Partnership, established under the Partnership Law Act 2019

No

Information is already available on the Companies Office website

Partnerships, formed under the Partnership Law Act 2019, but are not a limited partnership

Yes – but only if the partnership includes an identifying name of an individual

Contact CAA: aircraftregistrar@caa.govt.nz

Clubs or syndicates that are not separate legal entities (ie, not established as a limited partnership, trust or company)

Yes – but only if the club or syndicate name includes an identifying name of an individual

Contact CAA: aircraftregistrar@caa.govt.nz

Family trusts

Yes – but only if the name of the trust includes an identifying name of an individual

Contact CAA: aircraftregistrar@caa.govt.nz

Trusts incorporated under the Charitable Trusts Act 1957

No

Information is already available on Companies Office website

Societies incorporated under the Incorporated Societies Act 1908

No

Information is already available on Companies Office website

Other partnerships, syndicates, clubs, trusts or societies not listed above

Case-by-case assessment

Contact CAA: aircraftregistrar@caa.govt.nz

Your privacy

Even if your personal details are removed from the online register, under the Official Information Act 1982, we have to make them available if a request comes from any person in New Zealand, a New Zealand citizen or permanent resident, a body corporate incorporated in New Zealand, or any body corporate with a place of business here.

Contact information can, however, be withheld on the grounds of privacy. But we have to assess whether your privacy outweighs the public interest in your details.

Nothing in law requires us to advise you a request has been made for information that includes your personal details. Neither are we required to get your permission to give your personal details to someone else.

If there are specific safety or security reasons why you believe we ought to tell you a request for information about you has been made, email aircraftregistrar@caa.govt.nz

As we are bound by the Official Information Act 1982, we are unable to ask for an individual’s permission to release information about them. We're obliged to assess each request and decide whether it’s appropriate to release the requested information.

In most cases it won't be practicable for us to advise you that information has been requested, particularly where a requesting party is seeking information about more than one registered owner.

In some circumstances, however, we may contact individuals who are the subject of a request to:

  • advise them of the request having been made
  • seek their views on disclosure.

Privacy statement relating to aircraft registration forms

We may use the information you provide on aircraft registration application forms for wider aviation safety and security regulatory purposes.

That information will be entered into the register of civil aircraft. A version of the register, which includes the name and postal address of an aircraft owner, appears on our website, and is publicly accessible.

If your aircraft is registered in your name, you can request that your name and address be withheld from the online aircraft register. But even if those personal details are withheld from the online register, they may be disclosed to third parties (including other government agencies) in accordance with the Official Information Act 1982.

If you do want to remove your personal details from the online register, email aircraftregistrar@caa.govt.nz.

At any time, you are entitled to:

  • obtain confirmation whether or not personal information is held about you; and if so:
  • obtain access to that information, subject to the provisions of the Privacy Act 2020;
  • request that we correct any personal information it holds about you.

Contact us at:

PO Box 3555
Wellington 6140
Tel: 04 560 9400

Email aircraftregistrar@caa.govt.nz

Your details used for commercial or marketing purposes

We would be unlikely to release contact information to a company if it was clear it was to be used for bulk marketing purposes.

Access to information in the full register

There are a number of organisations and individuals requiring frequent access to aircraft registration information. They might either want to contact the registered owner (such as for billing and landing charges, and so on) or to perform their own civil aviation regulatory functions. Those organisations will continue to have access to full register information.

Those organisations include:

  • Airways Corporation of New Zealand
  • aerodrome and airfield operators
  • Part 145 maintenance organisations and Part 146 design organisations, licensed aircraft maintenance engineers, design delegation holders, Part 66 maintenance approval holders, and aircraft manufacturers
  • government agencies, such as the Rescue Coordination Centre, NZ Police, Fire and Emergency, Inland Revenue and the Department of Conservation
  • overseas authorities and organisations, including national aviation authorities in overseas jurisdictions, and ICAO, for the purposes of meeting New Zealand’s international law obligations under Article 21 of the Chicago Convention.

Ask us about aircraft registration

If you have any questions about this topic, use our contact form, or email aircraftregistrar@caa.govt.nz