If you have tried to look up the ownership history of an aircraft on FlightAware recently, you may have noticed that the "Registration History" section is gone. This feature, which used to show past owners and tail numbers, has been removed from the public site.
This change has been widely noted by the community, with discussions on Pilots of America and FlightAware’s own forums confirming that the feature has quietly disappeared.
The Push by NBAA and FAA
The removal appears to be FlightAware aligning itself with the industry's growing focus on owner privacy—a movement rooted in previous government programs and recently cemented into federal law.
For years, privacy was handled through established blocking programs like BARR (Block Aircraft Registration Request) and LADD (Limiting Aircraft Data Displayed). These were the previous regulatory frameworks championed by groups like the National Business Aviation Association (NBAA), which established the precedent that aircraft owners could opt out of having their flight data shared with the public.
This long-standing push for privacy was expanded and codified into federal law with the passage of the FAA Reauthorization Act of 2024 (Public Law 118-63) on May 16, 2024.
Section 803 of the Act mandates that the FAA allow private aircraft owners to withhold personally identifiable information (PII) from public datasets. According to a FAA press release, the agency began implementing these protections in March 2025, giving owners the ability to hide details such as names and addresses from the public registry.
A Proactive Move for Privacy
While FlightAware is required to strictly follow FAA block lists for live tracking, the removal of the registration history feature wasn't necessarily a hard requirement yet.
Instead, it seems FlightAware is proactively following the direction set by the FAA and NBAA. By removing easy access to ownership history, FlightAware is effectively operating on the assumption that the industry wants this data protected, too. They appear to be voluntarily closing the loop on privacy, ensuring their site aligns with the broader goal of hiding private aircraft details from the public eye.
What This Means for You
As FlightAware moves to match the privacy-first stance of the FAA and NBAA:
History is Hidden: You can no longer see the chain of ownership for an aircraft on the free interface.
Privacy is Prioritized: The platform is treating historical ownership data with the same sensitivity as live flight tracking.
While this makes research harder for enthusiasts, it reflects a shift where major platforms are choosing to protect owner anonymity even beyond what is strictly required by law.