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Aviation glossary

FIR

Flight Information Region · Also: flight information region, UIR, upper flight information region

Airports

Block of airspace of defined dimensions within which flight information and alerting services are provided, under the responsibility of a given state.

What it is

The world's airspace, oceans included, is divided into flight information regions, which states establish and ICAO coordinates through its regional air navigation plans. A large country may have several, while one FIR may cover several small countries or vast oceanic areas entrusted to a particular state. Spain, for example, has three: Madrid, Barcelona and Canarias. In some regions the upper airspace is organised separately as an upper flight information region (UIR).

Within each FIR, an area control centre serves the flights passing through it. The flight plan gives the estimated elapsed time to each FIR boundary, and on crossing it the aircraft changes frequency and comes under another centre. Oceanic FIRs, such as those over the North Atlantic, use special procedures because radar coverage is not always available.

Related terms

Air traffic controlThe service that keeps aircraft safely apart and orders traffic on the ground and in the air through clearances and instructions passed by radio. Flight planDetails of a flight filed with air traffic services before departure: aircraft, route, level, speed, estimated times, destination and alternate airports. ICAO airport codeFour-letter code under the ICAO system that identifies an aerodrome in flight plans, air traffic control and weather reports, such as EGLL for London Heathrow. Control towerAir traffic control unit based at an airport that clears take-offs, landings and ground movements and handles traffic in the immediate vicinity. ICAOSpecialised agency of the United Nations that sets the standards and recommended practices for international civil aviation.
Whole glossary

Cite

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This page was last updated on October 9, 2026

APA

Vuelopedia. (2026, October 9). FIR. Retrieved October 16, 2026, from https://vuelopedia.org/en/glossary/fir

MLA

“FIR.” Vuelopedia, Fundación Poderia, 9 Oct. 2026, vuelopedia.org/en/glossary/fir. Accessed 16 Oct. 2026.

Chicago

Vuelopedia. “FIR.” Fundación Poderia. Last modified October 9, 2026. https://vuelopedia.org/en/glossary/fir.

Harvard

Vuelopedia (2026) FIR. Available at: https://vuelopedia.org/en/glossary/fir (Accessed: 16 October 2026).

BibTeX

@misc{vuelopedia_en_glossary_fir,
  author       = {{Vuelopedia}},
  title        = {{FIR}},
  publisher    = {Fundación Poderia},
  year         = {2026},
  date         = {2026-10-09},
  url          = {https://vuelopedia.org/en/glossary/fir},
  howpublished = {\url{https://vuelopedia.org/en/glossary/fir}},
  urldate      = {2026-10-16},
  note         = {Accessed 2026-10-16}
}

Wikipedia

{{cite web |url=https://vuelopedia.org/en/glossary/fir |title=FIR |website=Vuelopedia |publisher=Fundación Poderia |date=2026-10-09 |access-date=2026-10-16 |language=en}}

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