RAB lookup: the complete guide to Brazil's civil aircraft registry
Every civil aircraft in Brazil is in the RAB. Knowing how to read the registry is the difference between finding a data point and understanding what it means.
Every civil aircraft in Brazil has a public record. It states who holds title, who operates it, whether it is airworthy, and whether it owes money to anyone. It has always been available for free, three clicks away. And almost nobody outside the industry knows it exists, let alone how to read it.
Looking up the RAB, Brazil's civil aircraft registry (ANAC), is free and public on ANAC's website: enter the aircraft's registration (the prefix, such as PR-ABC) and anyone can see the owner, operator, model, serial number, airworthiness status and liens. This guide covers how to run the lookup and, more importantly, how to read what the result actually means.
The land registry for airplanes
The RAB is to an aircraft what the land registry is to a house: it is the record that establishes title, gives it public notice, and stamps every change that matters in the life of the asset. Change of registered owner, leasing, a lender's security interest from financing, a court-ordered freeze, all of it runs through the RAB. Without an entry in the RAB, a purchase contract holds between the parties, but has no effect on anyone else.
A public registry exists to give notice. The data was always open; what was missing was knowing how to read it.
The practical consequence: any serious analysis of the Brazilian aviation market starts with the RAB. It is the primary source for this blog, for Jet Tracker's analytics, and for any fleet number worth trusting.
The lookup, step by step
- 01
Have the registration on hand
It is the code painted on the fuselage: two nationality letters, a hyphen, and three letters (PT-XYZ, PR-ABC, PS-JET). Not sure what each prefix series means? Our guide to aircraft registration prefixes covers it in five minutes.
- 02
Go to ANAC's public lookup
The official channel is the RAB section on ANAC's website. Type the registration with or without the hyphen and submit. No account or justification required: the registry is public by nature.
- 03
Read the record (with a trained eye)
The system returns a current snapshot of the registry: model, serial number, owner, operator, registration status and liens. The next section teaches you to read each field the way a professional does.
- 04
For formal purposes, request a certificate
The online screen is informational only. For a purchase, financing or a dispute, the document with legal standing is the certificate issued by ANAC (including the full-history certificate, which tells the complete story of the registry). It is a paid service, priced on ANAC's official fee schedule.
The reading that separates amateurs from professionals
People who work in the market do not read the record top to bottom; they read three fields, in this order:
1. Registration status. Normal means the aircraft is airworthy, with a current the CVA, Brazil's annual airworthiness verification certificate. Suspended usually means the CVA has lapsed (the aircraft exists but cannot fly). Cancelled means it has left the registry: export, destruction or deregistration. And there is a fourth status that trips up almost everyone: the registration mark reservation, a registration requested before the aircraft arrives. It is not an airplane; it is the intention of one.
2. Liens and encumbrances. Fiduciary liens, leases, court attachments. In any deal, this line matters more than the entire listing: an encumbered aircraft cannot change hands without the lienholder's consent. Our buying guide shows exactly where this bites.
3. Owner vs. operator. These fields serve different purposes. In Brazilian business aviation, the norm is for the aircraft to sit inside a holding company while a different company operates it (another entity in the same group, or a certified air taxi (RBAC 135, akin to Part 135) carrier). When the two fields diverge, the corporate structure is telling a story, and it is one that matters to whoever is selling, insuring or financing the aircraft.
The 4 limits of the official lookup
| The limit | The consequence | Where the answer is |
|---|---|---|
| Shows the corporate name, not the economic group | You see a holding company's CNPJ (Brazil's corporate tax ID) and the trail stops there | Cross-referencing with Brazil's federal corporate ownership records (automatic in Jet Tracker) |
| It is a snapshot, not a movie | Earlier registry movements stay invisible | Weekly registry monitoring, or a full-history certificate |
| Says who CAN fly, not who DOES fly | Paper fleet and active fleet get confused for each other | ADS-B signals and utilization in Flight Radar |
| Prices nothing | Market value is left to guesswork | Listings and comparables by model in the catalog |
The RAB right now, in numbers
The registry changes every week: new entries, exits, changes of owner, suspensions. That flow is the market's pulse, and it is exactly what Jet Tracker's monthly radars track by category.
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Frequently asked questions
Is the RAB lookup free?
Yes. The RAB is a public registry maintained by ANAC, and looking up an individual registration is free on the official website. Formal certificates (a full-history certificate, for example) are paid services through ANAC.
Does the RAB show who owns the aircraft?
It shows the registered owner and operator. In Brazilian business aviation, almost every aircraft is registered to a company. Getting to the economic group behind the CNPJ requires cross-referencing the registry with Brazil's federal corporate ownership records, a cross-reference Jet Tracker runs automatically.
What is the difference between the RAB and the registration prefix?
The prefix (the nationality and registration marks, such as PT, PR or PS) is the identifier painted on the aircraft. The RAB is the registry where that identifier is recorded, along with owner, operator, airworthiness status and encumbrances.
Does the RAB have an ownership history?
The standard public lookup shows the current snapshot only. A structured history of registry movements requires tracking the registry's updates over time, which is exactly what Jet Tracker does weekly, straight from the official source.