What Jeppesen approach charts cover
Jeppesen's charts give global coverage of terminal and en route aviation charts: approach plates, SIDs, STARs, airport diagrams and IFR flight planning procedures, presented in a standardised format flown by pilots worldwide, trusted by a stated user base of more than one million pilots. Revisions are aligned to the same AIRAC effective-date schedule that governs navigation databases, so chart currency and database currency move on the same 28-day rhythm.
The formats available today
Charts are delivered three ways: as digital charts through mobile and web-based platforms, as the traditional paper Airway Manual, and as tailored chart data feeding directly into front-panel avionics systems. Integration extends to the major EFB platforms in use, including ForeFlight and Garmin Pilot, so an operator already running an EFB is typically consuming Jeppesen chart data digitally through that app rather than through a separate standalone product.
The change coming by 2026
Jeppesen has stated that chart printing services are planned to end by 31 October 2026, with digital alternatives positioned as the ongoing route to current data. For an operator whose procedures still specify or assume a paper Airway Manual, this is not a distant, abstract change; it is a defined date after which the paper product this article is describing in its traditional form is no longer being produced, and the transition needs to be planned for rather than discovered when a subscription renewal no longer arrives in the expected format.
What this means in practice
- Operators already running charts through an EFB such as Garmin Pilot are largely unaffected in terms of workflow, since digital chart delivery through that channel continues.
- Operators whose SOPs, training or regulatory approvals specifically reference paper charts should review that documentation ahead of the print end date, since the underlying product it points to is changing.
- Flight schools and smaller operators that have relied on paper Airway Manuals as a low-tech, no-device-dependency backup should plan an alternative before the transition date, whether that is a tablet-based EFB or another documented backup procedure.
- Front-panel avionics systems using tailored Jeppesen chart data are a separate delivery path from the paper Airway Manual and are not affected by the print end date in the same way.
Digital charts are not a downgrade
It is worth being direct about this: digital chart delivery through platforms like Garmin Pilot is not a lesser substitute adopted because paper is being discontinued, it is the format most instrument-rated pilots already fly with day to day, offering interactive searching, automatic currency against the AIRAC cycle, and integration with the same app used for flight planning and moving-map navigation. The print end date is best read as a formal close-out of a legacy format that the majority of the operator base has already moved past, rather than a loss of capability.
Planning the transition
Any operator still dependent on paper charts should treat the run-up to 31 October 2026 as a planning window, not a deadline to react to at the last renewal cycle: confirm what device and app infrastructure a digital transition requires, budget for it, and update internal procedures and training before the paper product is withdrawn rather than after. ASPL supplies Jeppesen chart and database subscriptions in India and can advise operators on planning that transition against their specific fleet and procedures.