Transport Canada raises aircraft approval fees

Summary#

These final regulations update fees that Transport Canada charges for approving aircraft, engines, parts and related design changes. The rules raise many fees, add new chargeable activities (like post‑certification work), and come into force on June 21, 2023.

What it does#

• Raises the hourly review rate from $40 to $105 per hour for many certification tasks.
• Introduces a new “hybrid” fee for some approvals:
  • applicant pays a fixed fee for the first 300 hours, then $105/hour for additional time up to an annual cap.
• Updates many fixed fees (examples in the rules range from $151 to $3,544).
• Makes additional work chargeable, including:
  • post‑certification changes and reviews,
  • administrative amendments to approval documents,
  • validation of foreign approvals that are to be accepted in Canada,
  • certain in‑Canada travel and overtime for Transport Canada staff when requested by or caused by the applicant.
• Requires some charges (for medical certificates, hourly and travel/overtime invoices) to be paid within 30 days of the invoice.
• Sets fees to be adjusted each year for inflation under the Service Fees Act.
• Establishes transitional rules so ongoing hourly and hybrid projects have their hours reset to zero as of June 21, 2023, while some fixed‑fee work begun before that date stays under the old charge.

Who's affected#

• Aircraft and aircraft parts manufacturers (the biggest group affected).
• Companies that apply for design approvals, supplemental type certificates and Canadian Technical Standard Orders.
• Air carriers, charter operators, and maintenance/overhaul businesses that request design work or approvals.
• About 280 domestic small businesses are estimated to face increased fees for fixed, hybrid, or travel charges.
• Foreign firms that want approvals to sell products in Canada will also pay more under the new regime.
• Transport Canada (administration of the fee program) and Canadian taxpayers (because the changes shift more costs from taxpayers to industry).

Why it matters#

• The changes shift more of the cost of safety approvals from Canadian taxpayers to the companies that benefit from approvals.
• For companies, certification will be more expensive and some projects could become significantly costlier if they exceed the 300‑hour hybrid threshold. That may affect budgets, project timelines and pricing for aircraft products and modifications.
• The rules aim to recover more costs: fee recovery is expected to rise from about 4% of approval costs to about 22%, with Transport Canada estimating incremental costs to domestic industry of $22.51 million over 2023–2032 and total fees recovered of $33.40 million (net benefit $10.89 million in that period).
• Small businesses are affected mostly by fixed and hybrid fees (estimated collective impact $3.34 million over 10 years).
• Some industry groups were concerned about predictability and competitiveness (for example, compared with the U.S. FAA, which generally does not charge for certification). The regulations include annual maximums and other limits intended to give more predictability.

If you want more detail about specific fees or how they apply to a particular certification activity, Transport Canada’s fee tables and guidance are in the published regulations and on its website.