Air charter


Air charter is the business of renting an entire aircraft as opposed to individual aircraft seats.

Regulation

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. There are some cases where a charter operator can sell scheduled flights, but only in limited quantities.
The same regulations also apply to Air Ambulance and cargo operators.

Types of service

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