IThe governing authority of IAOPA is the Executive Board, consisting of the chief executives of all accredited member organizations. Regular meetings of the Board are held at least every 18 months. Regional meetings are held quarterly.
The President and the Regional Vice Presidents are elected for four-year terms. The Senior Vice President is appointed by the President from the ranks of the Regional Vice Presidents. All serve without remuneration from IAOPA.

IAOPA maintains a headquarters secretariat near Washington, D.C.; a European regional coordinator in London, England; a Pacific regional coordinator in Canberra, Australia; and an EEC liaison in Brussels, Belgium.

In addition to the Board meetings every 18 months, there is a "World Assembly" of the representatives of the constituent organizations. Further, meetings of the European Region member groups normally are held every three months for the purpose of discussing and coordinating problems relating to general aviation operations within the many nations of that region.

D IAOPA provides representation at all major ICAO meetings of interest to general aviation and to many of the regional meetings, working groups and panels wherein general aviation is involved. Experts on general aviation operations are drawn from the IAOPA constituent groups to provide representation at ICAO meetings and at many other conferences of international bodies. The representatives for each meeting are drawn, so far as is practicable, from IAOPA member groups in the area of the meeting. These are supplemented by staff of the IAOPA secretariat and as necessary, by additional experts to provide the needed expertise.

IAOPA positions on contemporary matters under consideration by ICAO and other groups are formed through dissemination of agenda items and working papers by the Washington, London and Canberra secretariats to the IAOPA member groups. In addition, specialized committees utilizing experts from various nations are used as appropriate to evaluate and make recommendations on selected subjects.

The resulting comments and recommendations are then consolidated to form the IAOPA policy. Standing committees are the Technical Advisory Committee, the Medical Committee, the Meteorological Advisory Committee, Legal Committee, and Pilot Certification.

Each IAOPA constituent organization pays annual dues according to its total membership to support the secretariat operations of the organization.

IAOPA also provides representation on selected occasions for general aviation at meetings of the International Federation of Air Traffic Controllers Associations, the International Air 'Transport Association, the International Federation of Air Line Pilot Associations, the European Organization for Civil Aviation Electronics, the World Meteorological Organization, the International Civil Airport Association, EUROCONROL and the European Civil Aviation Conference.