Privacy Policy

Last updated: July 2026

White Contrails is a commercial aviation intelligence newsletter. This policy explains what personal data we collect, why we collect it, and your rights under UK GDPR and EU GDPR.

1. Who we are

White Contrails is operated as a sole-trader publication. For data protection purposes, we are the data controller.

Contact: [email protected]

2. What data we collect

When you subscribe to the newsletter we collect:

Email address — required to send you the briefing.
First name (optional) — if you provide it, used only to personalise the greeting.

We do not collect payment information, IP addresses, browsing history, or any special-category data.

3. How we use your data

We use your email address solely to send you the White Contrails newsletter and any directly related service notices (e.g. changes to the schedule, corrections to a published issue). We do not use your data for advertising, profiling, or any purpose beyond operating the newsletter.

4. Legal basis

Our legal basis for processing your email address is consent (UK GDPR Article 6(1)(a)). You gave consent when you submitted the subscription form. You may withdraw consent at any time by clicking the unsubscribe link in any issue, or by emailing [email protected].

5. How we share your data

We use the following sub-processors to operate the service:

beehiiv (email platform, USA) — we share your email address with beehiiv solely to deliver the newsletter and manage subscription preferences. beehiiv acts as a data processor under a data-processing agreement. beehiiv Privacy Policy.
Cloudflare (hosting & DNS, USA) — the White Contrails website is hosted on Cloudflare Pages. Cloudflare may process server logs (including IP addresses) as part of its hosting and security services. Cloudflare Privacy Policy.

We do not sell, rent, or otherwise share your personal data with any third party beyond the sub-processors named above.

Our sub-processors may be based outside the UK or EEA. Where applicable, any transfer is subject to appropriate safeguards (e.g. Standard Contractual Clauses or an adequacy decision).

6. How long we keep your data

We retain your email address for as long as you remain subscribed. Upon unsubscription, your address is deleted from our active list within 30 days. We do not retain archived subscriber lists.

7. Cookies and analytics

We do not place any advertising cookies, and we do not use any tracking script that follows you across other websites. We do not place any non-essential cookies in your browser.

We use Cloudflare Web Analytics to see aggregate traffic patterns (which pages are read, how many visitors, roughly where from). It does not use cookies or any persistent identifier, does not fingerprint your device, and does not track you across other websites — Cloudflare's own privacy policy describes it as "privacy-first" analytics. Because it does not store or access anything on your device, it does not require consent under UK PECR (the rule governing cookie banners applies to storing/reading information on your device, which this does not do).

If we ever introduce a tracking technology that does require consent (e.g. cookie-based analytics or advertising), this policy will be updated before it is activated and you will be given the opportunity to consent.

8. Your rights

Under UK GDPR you have the right to:

Access — request a copy of the personal data we hold about you.
Erasure — ask us to delete your data ("right to be forgotten").
Portability — receive your data in a machine-readable format.
Withdraw consent — at any time, without affecting the lawfulness of processing prior to withdrawal.
Lodge a complaint — with the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) at ico.org.uk if you believe we have not handled your data correctly.

To exercise any of these rights, email [email protected]. We will respond within 30 days.

9. Children

White Contrails is a professional publication aimed at adults. We do not knowingly collect personal data from anyone under the age of 16.

10. Changes to this policy

We may update this policy as our practices evolve. Material changes will be announced in the next newsletter issue. The "Last updated" date at the top of this page reflects the most recent revision.

11. Contact

Questions about this policy: [email protected]