Share
An article appearing in the October 2008 issue of Bloomberg Markets magazine has succeeded in causing a fair amount of consternation among the private aviation community. The article by Seth Lubove, titled “Flying Blind”, alleges that a lack of charter broker regulation is linked to some of the accidents that have occurred aboard on-demand charter flights in recent years.
Charter brokers do not operate flights but instead arrange travel for customers through a network of charter operators. Lubove points to the crash of a Challenger 600 on takeoff from Teterboro Airport in 2006 as an example of how the current system can go awry. In the incident, a flight brokered through Blue Star Jets was operated by Platinum Jet Management through a license it had borrowed through another operator, Darby Aviation.
Charter brokers who organize flights through subcontractors without performing the proper due diligence are, of course, a major cause for concern. Lubove believes that the answer to the safety issues in the charter industry is greater government regulation. However, trends in the on-demand charter industry may render his argument for more regulation, moot.
The emergence of online charter marketplaces, such as Virgin Charter, which cuts out charter brokerages altogether and allows customers to book directly with an operator, and the establishment of independent charter safety auditors such as Wyvern and ARG/US, encourage the open market to improve safety. Fliers can easily consult these services for comprehensive assessments of planes, pilots, and crews on prospective charter flights. If an operator has a poor safety record, a flier can take their business elsewhere.
Fliers look to charter flights for the comfort, convenience, and, most of all, flexibility that is unavailable in commercial aviation. It would be a shame to see the charter industry, which is just beginning to branch out to a broad customer base, encumbered by excessive and, perhaps unnecessary, government regulation.
What do you think about government regulation and the charter industry? Share your opinion in our comments section.
4 Comments
A Guest said:
The bigger problem with private jet charter brokers is their poor relationships with aircraft owners and aircraft management companies from where the brokers find the jets that they furnish to the the flier or end-user. For example, their failure to pay these entities or the long delay in payment.
A Guest said:
What the article does not mention is the brokers who work hard to ensure that their clients are flying on high quality high rated aircraft. Unfortunately some of the companies mentioned have management of prior disrepute. Regardless companies like ElJet www.ellejet.com and Virgin Charter www.virgincharter.com do put safety first. Charter brokers that do not are shortsighted and eventually will not survive in the marketplace. Finally, any operator or broker who performs a flight without having arranged payment in advance via a credit card hold etc. is simply foolish. Anyone in this industry should make sure that payment is arranged in advance.
rcrowser said:
Keep in mind that "indpendent charter safety auditors such as Wyvern and ARG/US" are businesses unto themselves and charge hefty fees to those operators who want pay for their ratings. The two recent charter fatal accidents - Hawker 800 and Lear 60 - were both ARG/US and Wyvern rated operators. Are there statistics that show "independent auditor" rated companies have a better safety record than those who havent paid for ratings?
jamesd said:
Charter Brokers like Blue Star and Sentient don't really care about the customer. The look for the closest, cheapest planes they can find and in many cases, those planes are not what customers want. They also don't own the planes and the pilots work for other people too. You are much better off chartering from a charter operator yourself vs. paying them 20% more for the same planes. The charter broker world is full of riddles. Mke sure you ask lots of questions from businesses like sentient, blue star, jet networtk, etc.
Post Your Own Comment