Registration marks
Registered aircraft in Australia are assigned unique registration marks.
The format includes:
- the nationality mark for an Australian aircraft 'VH' (established under the Chicago Convention)
- a hyphen
- three characters.
There are special cases where dealer marks are assigned to individuals and organisations.
Reserve a registration mark
You need to reserve a registration mark before you can apply to use it on an aircraft. If we receive a registration application and a mark hasn't been reserved, an available mark will be assigned to the aircraft.
Check the list of available marks. This list is updated every working day.
You can reserve a registration mark:
- for an aircraft which will be registered in the Australian Civil Aircraft Register within 12 months
- to change the registration mark on a currently registered aircraft.
Reservations will lapse 12 months after the day the mark was reserved if the mark has not be assigned to a registered aircraft. Extensions to reservations aren't permitted.
Change a registration mark
Submit an 
Form 23 Application for change of registration mark (pdf 964.08 KB) if you want to:
- use a different registration mark on your aircraft
- transfer your registration mark to another aircraft.
Read more about changing a registration mark.