Airservices Australia’s area of operations covers the Australian Flight Information Region which includes the nation’s sovereign airspace and international airspace over the surrounding oceans including the FIR’s of the Solomon Islands and Nauru.

Lower level airspace is also managed at six Pacific Ocean region airports for the US Federal Aviation Administration.

Airservices is responsible for the airspace stretching in latitude from two degrees to 90 degrees south; and in longitude from 75 degrees to 163 degrees east.

This is an area of 19,995,070 sq nautical miles (51,786,992 sq kms) - or some 11 percent of the world’s total airspace.

The corporation also provides air traffic and navigational services and associated aeronautical information required by both domestic and international aviation industries.

Airservices provides its services in accordance with Civil Aviation Safety Authority regulations. Its airspace role is carried out in accordance with the International Civil Aviation Organization airspace classification system.

Australian airspace classification:

• Instrument Flight Rules (IFR) - commercial and selected general aviation aircraft
• Visual Flight Rules (VFR) – general aviation aircraft

Class A: IFR flights only are permitted. All flights are provided with an air traffic control service and are positively separated from each other. 

Class C: All aircraft must get an airways clearance and communicate with air traffic control. IFR aircraft are positively separated from both IFR and VFR aircraft. VFR aircraft are provided traffic information on other VFR aircraft.

Class D: All aircraft must get an airways clearance and communicate with air traffic control. IFR aircraft are positively separated from other IFR aircraft and are provided with traffic information on all VFR aircraft. VFR aircraft are provided traffic information on all other aircraft.

Class E: IFR aircraft require an airways clearance and must communicate with air traffic control. IFR aircraft are positively separated from other IFR aircraft and given traffic information on known VFR aircraft. VFR aircraft do not require an airways clearance and are not required to communicate with air traffic control.

Class G: IFR and VFR flights are permitted and do not require an airways clearance. IFR flights must communicate with air traffic control and receive traffic information on other IFR flights and a flight information service. VFR flights receive a flight information service if requested.

Airspace and airside, we do it all – from the ground up