Not so fast. To for instance Sweden from non-EU, it’s not about ATC at all. It’s customs. The Swedish admin obviously distribute to the customs as well. The (customs) rules say one hour before departure. The Norwegian ATC does not forward anything to customs, you have to do it yourself (but you can hook it off if filing from IPPC). The same rule apply though. One our before departure. If flying to a non international airport, it’s 4 hours before crossing the border.
Posted in 2014 here.
Netherlands removes FPL requirement for international flights
Some good news: From the 1st of July 2024, the Netherlands will not require a flight plan any longer for international VFR flights within the Schengen zone, as long as these go through uncontrolled airspace. Therefore, crossing borders with Belgium and Germany will become much easier, as these countries already don’t require VFR flight plans for international flights. Even a direct flight from the Netherlands to Austria, Czech Republic or Poland would be theoretically possible without an FPL.
Flight plans are still required when penetrating controlled airspace inside the Netherlands, even for national flights, or when one of the penetrated countries still requires one by themselves (e.g. France).
Source (Dutch): Staatscourant Nr. 13490
I think this comment “Flight plans are still required when penetrating controlled airspace inside the Netherlands, even for national flights” is a bit misleading. In this particular case flight plans can be transmitted via radio to the control tower, when you intent to cross a control zone.
To my knowledge, the only (legal) reason for a FP to/from Norway is customs, when inside Schengen. Sweden requires a FP for this reason, while Norway requires that the customs office receives the flight plan. I don’t see how this will change in my life time 
A FP is not altogether a stupid thing though, except in all the cases where it clearly serves no purpose.
Yes, it is due to the ubiquitous confusion (and disagreement) of various parties as to what constitutes a flightplan and how it can be “filed”.
Do the Netherlands really generally accept abbreviated VFR flightplans for departures from and arrivals to controlled aerodromes??
Frans wrote:
Flight plans are still required when penetrating controlled airspace inside the Netherlands, even for national flights, or when one of the penetrated countries still requires one by themselves (e.g. France).
But also for VFR at night leaving the vicinity of the aerodrome, as per SERA.4001(b)(6).
I don’t see any requirement to do a full written flightplan over AFTN prior to take-off for crossing controlled airspace, an abbreviated flightplan over radio (informally known as “obtaining a clearance in the air”, as per SERA.4001(c)(2) and (d)(4)) doesn’t seem to be outlawed per se. Do we have evidence of how the Dutch regulator and/or ATC sees that?
For departure / arrival to a controled aerodromes a full flight plan is still nessesary, afaik. For crossing a abbreviated flight plan will do.
Thanks for your correction @dutchTraveler ! I wasn’t aware abbreviated flight plans to cross CAS are alright, since Schiphol ATC still wants an FPL to cross their CTR AFAIK. But there is also a lot of other controlled airspace around the Netherlands, where abbreviated flight plans come in handy.
Flight plans for departing and landing at controlled aerodromes are definitely still required, even for national flights. I remember I had to file an FPL for a local flight at EHLE a few years ago.
LeSving wrote:
To my knowledge, the only (legal) reason for a FP to/from Norway is customs, when inside Schengen. Sweden requires a FP for this reason, while Norway requires that the customs office receives the flight plan. I don’t see how this will change in my life time
By SERA 4001(b)(5) a flight plan is necessary when crossing international borders, unless the countries involved have decided to waive that requirement. This is regardless of immigration (non-Schengen) or customs (non-EU) requirements. As we have seen, some countries in continental Europe have waived the requirement. I don’t know about Norway, but Sweden has not.
