Aviation Industry Glossary

Quick reference for terms and acronyms you'll encounter when meeting dispatchers, pilots, ops managers, and data providers in European business aviation.

Flight Operations & Dispatch

Term Meaning
OFP Operational Flight Plan — the master document for a flight
OCC Operations Control Center — where dispatchers coordinate flights
FTL Flight Time Limitations — EASA crew scheduling rules (ORO.FTL)
W&B Weight & Balance — aircraft loading calculations
ETD / ETA Estimated Time of Departure / Arrival
Trip Planning Integrated coordination of flight, crew, fuel, handling, permits
Fuel Tankering Carrying extra fuel from a cheaper airport to avoid buying at a pricier one
Alternate Backup airport required on every IFR flight plan
FBO Fixed-Base Operator — airport service provider (fuel, hangar, lounge)
Handling Agent Ground services coordinator at an airport (stairs, fuel, customs)
Slot Assigned time window for takeoff/landing at congested airports
CFMU Central Flow Management Unit — Eurocontrol's traffic flow manager, assigns slots

NOTAMs & Aeronautical Information

Term Meaning
NOTAM Notice to Airmen — alerts about hazards, closures, restrictions
FIR Flight Information Region — airspace managed by a single ANSP
ANSP Air Navigation Service Provider (e.g., ENAIRE in Spain)
EAD European AIS Database — Eurocontrol's canonical NOTAM/AIP source
AIP Aeronautical Information Publication — the "bible" for each country's airspace
AIS Aeronautical Information Services — the department that publishes AIPs and NOTAMs
AIRAC Aeronautical Information Regulation and Control — 28-day publication cycle
B2B Business-to-Business interface — EAD's programmatic SOAP/XML API
ICAO Format Standard NOTAM encoding (Q-line, A-line, etc.) — notoriously hard to read

Weather Briefing

Term Meaning
METAR Current weather observation at an airport (updated every 30-60 min)
TAF Terminal Aerodrome Forecast — airport weather forecast (next 24-30 hrs)
SIGMET Significant Meteorological warning — severe weather in an airspace area
AIRMET Lower-severity weather advisory
PIREP Pilot Report — weather conditions reported from the cockpit
VFR / IFR Visual Flight Rules / Instrument Flight Rules — weather-dependent flight categories
IMC Instrument Meteorological Conditions — can't see outside, must fly on instruments
Winds Aloft Wind speed and direction at various altitudes along a route

Regulatory Bodies & Frameworks

Term Meaning
EASA European Union Aviation Safety Agency — Europe's FAA equivalent
ICAO International Civil Aviation Organization — UN body setting global standards
Eurocontrol European air traffic management organization (ATM, flow control, EAD)
SESAR Single European Sky ATM Research — EU modernization program
CAA Civil Aviation Authority — national regulator (each EU state has one)
AESA Agencia Estatal de Seguridad Aerea — Spain's CAA
Part-CAT EASA rules for Commercial Air Transport (charter, scheduled)
Part-NCC EASA rules for Non-Commercial Complex aircraft (corporate jets)
Part-NCO EASA rules for Non-Commercial Other (lighter aircraft)
AOC Air Operator Certificate — license to operate commercial flights
DO-178C Software certification standard for safety-critical avionics

Aircraft & Fleet

Term Meaning
Bizav Business Aviation — private/charter jet operations
GA General Aviation — everything that isn't airline or military
Charter On-demand flight service, booked per trip
Fractional Ownership Shared ownership of an aircraft (e.g., NetJets)
Wet Lease Leasing an aircraft with crew included
Dry Lease Leasing an aircraft without crew
Aircraft Management Third-party company operates your jet for you
MRO Maintenance, Repair, and Overhaul — maintenance providers
Type Rating Pilot certification for a specific aircraft type

Common Business Jet Families

Manufacturer Models
Cessna/Textron Citation (CJ, XLS, Latitude, Longitude, Sovereign)
Gulfstream G280, G500, G600, G650, G700
Bombardier Learjet, Challenger 350/650, Global 6500/7500
Dassault Falcon 2000, 6X, 8X, 10X
Embraer Phenom 100/300, Praetor 500/600
Pilatus PC-12 (turboprop), PC-24 (jet)

Key Airports (European Bizav Hubs)

ICAO IATA Airport Notes
LFPB LBG Paris Le Bourget Europe's busiest bizav airport
EGLF FAB Farnborough UK bizav hub
EGKB — Biggin Hill UK bizav, south of London
LSGG GVA Geneva Swiss hub, heavy bizav traffic
LFMN NCE Nice French Riviera
LEMD MAD Madrid Barajas Terminal Ejecutiva for bizav
LEMG AGP Malaga Southern Spain
LEIB IBZ Ibiza Seasonal charter traffic

Industry Organizations & Events

Acronym Full Name
EBAA European Business Aviation Association
NBAA National Business Aviation Association (US)
EBACE European Business Aviation Convention & Exhibition (Geneva, May)
OPSGROUP Aviation ops professionals community & FixingNotams.org advocacy
EUFALDA European Flight Dispatcher Association
COPAC Colegio Oficial de Pilotos de la Aviacion Comercial (Spain)
SKYbrary Eurocontrol's aviation safety wiki

Competitor Products

Product What It Is
FL3XX Austrian bizav ops platform (trip planning, scheduling, quoting)
Leon Software Polish bizav ops platform (similar to FL3XX)
PPS Flight Planning Belgian flight planning system (fuel, routing)
ForeFlight iPad EFB app (popular with pilots, owned by Boeing)
FuelerLinx US fuel optimization platform
Notamify NOTAM API provider with filtering

Business & Market Terms You'll Hear

Term Meaning
EFB Electronic Flight Bag — tablet-based pilot tools (replaces paper charts)
IROPs Irregular Operations — disruptions (weather, mechanicals, diversions)
Wedge Product Entry-point product that gets you in the door before upselling the platform
AI-Native Built with AI from the start, not bolted onto legacy software
Data Residency Where data is physically stored (GDPR requirement)
ECAC European Civil Aviation Conference — 44 member states
ReFuelEU EU regulation mandating Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) blending
EU ETS EU Emissions Trading System — carbon credits for aviation

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