Overflight permit
An overflight permit is the authorisation a state grants for a foreign aircraft to transit its airspace without landing. Most of Europe and North America require none for private flights, but much of Africa, the Middle East, Central and South Asia and parts of Latin America do, and processing can take from a few hours to more than a week. Permits are tied to a specific aircraft registration, route, date window and sometimes crew, and each carries a fee. Trip-support companies handle them for operators. For travellers, permit lead time is one reason a last-minute charter from Europe to Lagos or Islamabad is harder to arrange than one to Nice.