Aircraft registration

Aircraft registration is the official entry of an aircraft in a national registry, assigning it a unique registration mark and recording its registered owner.

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Aircraft registration marks: Letters, numbers, or their combination displayed on an aircraft to identify its registration. The registry assigns this visible identifier to each registered aircraft.
Civil aviation: The operation of aircraft for nonmilitary purposes, including commercial and private flying. National aircraft registries generally govern aircraft used in civil aviation.
Aircraft airworthiness: An aircraft’s conformity with approved design and maintenance requirements for safe flight. Registration places an aircraft within a state’s framework for airworthiness oversight.
Convention on International Civil Aviation: The 1944 treaty that established the framework for international civil aviation. The Convention requires aircraft to bear nationality and registration marks and prohibits dual registration.
Aircraft register: An official national record of civil aircraft and their registration particulars. This is the record in which an aircraft registration is entered.
Aircraft identification: The process of distinguishing an aircraft using identifiers such as registration marks and serial numbers. Registration provides a standardized identifier tied to an official record.
Certificate of registration: An official document certifying that an aircraft is entered in a national register. The certificate provides documentary evidence of the aircraft’s registration.
Chicago Conference: The 1944 international conference that negotiated the framework for postwar civil aviation. Its negotiations produced the treaty basis for modern national aircraft registration.
Aircraft ownership: The legal holding of title to an aircraft, distinct from operating or possessing it. A registry records a registered owner, but that entry need not establish legal title conclusively.
Aircraft manufacturer serial number: A unique number assigned to an aircraft by its manufacturer during production. Unlike a registration mark, this identifier usually remains with the airframe when registration changes.