Air charter

Charter, also called air taxi or ad-hoc flights require certification from the associated country's national aviation authority. The regulations are differentiated from typical commercial/passenger service by offering a non-scheduled service. In the U.S. these flights are regulated under FAA Part 135.[1] There are some cases where a charter operator can sell scheduled flights, but only in limited quantities.[2]

The same regulations also apply to Air Ambulance and cargo operators.

There are several business models which offer air charter services from the traditional charter operator to brokers and jet card programs:

• Charter Operators – certified by their associated government body such as the FAA for US carriers have legal authority to advertise and conduct flights for hire.
• Air Charter Broker – Charter Brokers arrange flights on behalf of their clients, acting as an "Authorized Agent".[3]
• Jet card – Programs offered by both brokers and operators where a customer is offered a fixed hourly rate for a specific jet category and the broker or operator sources a jet from the available charter fleet.
• Online marketplace – Online Booking platform where the client can choose and book the desired aircraft directly with the operator.[4]

Charter aircraft categories include:

• Seaplanes – examples: DHC-2 Beaver, DHC-3 Otter
• Turbo props – examples: Pilatus PC-12, King Air 350, Piaggio P-180 Avanti
• Light jets – examples: Phenom 300, CJ3
• Mid-cabin jets – examples: Learjet 60, Hawker 800XP
• Super mid-cabin jets – examples: Citation X, Challenger 300
• Large jets – examples: Bombardier Challenger 605, Falcon 900
• Ultra long-range jets – examples: Gulfstream V, Gulfstream G650, Bombardier Global 7500
• VIP airliners – example: Boeing Business Jet

There are an estimated 15,000 business jets available for charter in the world. The US market is the largest, followed by the European market with growing activity in the Middle East, Asia, and Central America.[5]

• Air taxi
• Commercial aviation
• List of charter airlines

• Evaluating the Efficiency of a Small Aircraft Transportation System Network Using Planning and Simulation Models (2006)
• Nationwide Impacts of Very Light Jet Traffic in the Future Next Generation Air Transportation System (NGATS) (2006)
• A Transportation Systems Analysis Model (TSAM) to study the impact of the Small Aircraft Transportation System (SATS) (2005)
• An Integrated Model To Study The Small Aircraft Transportation System (SATS) (2003)
• Transportation Systems Analysis Model, a nationwide transportation planning model to forecast air taxi demand in the United States
• Private jets for non-gazillionaires. The changing landscape of air taxi and air charter.

Media related to Charter airlines at Wikimedia Commons