Who uses LFS flight dispatch services
Our flight dispatch services support charter and commercial operators, corporate flight departments, cargo operators and brokers who need a dispatcher on the trip without building a full operations control centre of their own. Some hand us every sector of a trip. Others use us for the legs their own team cannot cover: a new region, a night shift, a peak week, or an itinerary with several permit-heavy countries.
For a longer-term arrangement where we act as your dispatch function, see outsourced flight dispatch. For trips centred on the Gulf, see flight dispatch services in the Gulf.
Dispatch support, flight planning and flight following are not the same
These terms are often used interchangeably. They describe different work, and it helps to agree which one you need before the trip.
Flight planning
Building the operational flight plan (OFP) and the ATC flight plan: route, levels, fuel, alternates and performance figures for a specific sector. See flight planning.
Dispatch support
Flight planning plus the work around it: weather and NOTAM review, airport suitability checks, filing, crew briefing packages, and coordination with permits, slots, handling and fuel so the plan matches what is actually booked on the ground.
Flight following
Watching the flight once it is airborne: tracking progress against the plan, monitoring weather and NOTAM changes at destination and alternates, and coordinating with the crew and ground parties if something changes. See real-time operations.
What stays with the operator and the crew
LFS supports your operation; it does not replace it. The aircraft operator keeps operational control as defined by its own authority and operations manual, and the pilot-in-command keeps final authority over the conduct of the flight. Where your regulator requires licensed or authorised personnel to release or exercise operational control of a flight, that responsibility stays with the people your operation designates.
In practice that means we work to your fuel policy, your minima, your alternate rules and your company procedures. The plan we produce is checked and accepted by your crew or operations staff, not imposed on them.
What we need to build a flight plan
- Aircraft type, registration, equipment and performance data, or the profile used in your planning system
- Your fuel policy, contingency and reserve rules, and any operator-specific minima
- Departure, destination and preferred alternates, with ETD in UTC
- Payload: passengers, baggage and cargo, or zero fuel weight
- Crew duty limits for the day, and any planned crew change
- Permit, slot and handling status for each airport, if already arranged