Jeppesen Ends Printed Aeronautical Chart Service, Cancels Remaining Paper Subscriptions
Why It MattersThe exit of a long-standing paper chart supplier shows navigation data now moves as an electronic service, with print reduced to a pilot-generated fallback and no longer sold as a product.
What happened
Jeppesen has ended its printed aeronautical chart service. Under the company's phase-out notice, printing operations stopped on Oct. 31, and every remaining paper chart subscription was terminated effective Nov. 1.
Customers with active subscriptions will receive credits for any unused portion extending beyond the cutoff date. Renewal invoices issued for service periods after Oct. 31 will be canceled.
The company cited the rising costs of managing paper charts and the aviation industry's continued adoption of electronic navigation products as its reasons. In its GA notice, Jeppesen said the majority of flights around the world use Jeppesen digital charts rather than traditional paper charts.
Jeppesen said it will continue to provide digital charts through electronic platforms, including ForeFlight, which first integrated Jeppesen charts in 2017. Pilots who prefer printed materials can still produce their own: ForeFlight Mobile supports printing individual or multiple approach plates and airport diagrams, and Jeppesen continues to offer seven-hole punched paper for use in traditional chart binders. The FAA also continues to make its charts available through approved printers.
Ownership and corporate backdrop
The change comes a year after Boeing sold Jeppesen, ForeFlight and other digital aviation assets to private equity firm Thoma Bravo in a $10.55 billion transaction. The businesses subsequently combined under the Jeppesen ForeFlight name.
Industry impact & what to watch
Printed charts were long a distribution business with its own production, shipping and subscription-management costs. Jeppesen's stated reasoning, rising paper-handling cost set against growing electronic adoption, describes a segment where the economics of print weaken as the installed base of digital users grows. The chart content itself has not gone away; the delivery format has.
What survives on paper is now the pilot's own output. Printing through ForeFlight Mobile, seven-hole punched paper for binders and FAA charts from approved printers all leave a printed backup possible, but the user generates it rather than receiving a subscribed product. For flight departments and training operations, the paper chart becomes a contingency artifact, and its currency becomes the responsibility of whoever prints it.
The next point to settle is how the combined Jeppesen ForeFlight organisation handles customers who were relying on the discontinued subscriptions, starting with the credits for unused subscription time that were promised beyond the Oct. 31 cutoff.
