Air charter is the business of renting an entire aircraft (i.e., chartering) as opposed to individual aircraft seats (i.e., purchasing a ticket through a traditional airline).

Regulation

Charter – also called air taxi or ad hoc – flights require certification from the associated country's civil aviation authority. The regulations are differentiated from typical commercial/passenger service by offering a non-scheduled service. Analogous regulations generally also apply to air ambulance and cargo operators, which are often also ad hoc for-hire services.

United States

In the United States, 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. As of 2021, the FAA had made it a priority to crack down on unauthorised charter flights, according to industry experts.

Types of service

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

Aircraft categories

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. Some charter airlines have employed other types of jets, including Airbus, Boeing, and McDonnell Douglas mainline airliners such as the Douglas DC-10 and Boeing 747. Arrow Air of the United States was such an airline. Among other aircraft, it employed a fleet of 6 DC-10 aircraft from 1983.