Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what the average time taken by the Civil Aviation Authority to determine a spaceflight licence application has been since 2021.

The time taken by the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) to determine a spaceflight licence application varies depending on licence type, the complexity of the application and the quality of the supporting information.

The CAA advises that orbital licence applications take around six months to process, although novel or more complex missions may take longer. For spaceport or launch licences, applicants should allow a minimum of nine months from receipt of a complete application to a licence decision.

The CAA publishes processing time data for orbital operator licence applications on its website. These account for the highest volume of applications each year, providing a sufficient sample for robust reporting.