Australia’s Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) will switch off nearly 200 ground-based navaids and start implementing global navigation satellite systems navigation (GNSS) for all aircraft operating in the country on or after May 26. Aircraft operating under IFR must be equipped with GNSS avionics enabling compliance with operations in RNP1 terminal areas, RNP2 on continental routes and RNP4 or RNP10 on oceanic routes.

The navaids to be shut down later this month include some 180 VORs and NDBs. Those remaining—about 245—will form the basis of the country’s new backup navigation network.

To help foreign-registered aircraft operators meet the new requirements, the authority is offering a two-year exemption. To secure the exemption, operators must pay a fee, complete an online form and submit supporting documents before their first flight in Australia on or after May 26. However, operators must have an existing Rnav1 or Rnav2 approval based on GNSS from their national authority.

Before the application can be processed, operators must pay the initial fee estimate. If the estimate is less than AU$8,000 ($5,894), then the full payment in advance is required; if the estimate exceeds this, the minimum initial payment required is AU$8,000 or 50 percent of the total estimated cost, whichever is greater. The cost is calculated on the time it takes the CASA to process the application.