Charter flights, because of their somewhat irregular schedules and routes, are fun to simulate- even to make up my own. At least in the US and Europe, most charter flights are taking pax in winter from the cold northern climates to more "tropical" destinations such as the Carribean, Spain, Hawaii, etc.In real life, what do these charter airctaft and companies do in the summer? Is there a demand for charter flights in the summer- and if so, where do they fly?Thanks, Bruce.

Most charter flight airlines have contra-deals with other such airlines which allow their aircraft to do double duty. For example, a Scandinavian charter airline might have a deal with a Spanish charter airline, so that aircraft can be used throughout the year when different seasonal rush periods occur for the two countries, effectively making part of their fleet co-owned. In such cases, you often find that these aircraft have simple paint schemes which can be easily altered, or even carry shared or temporary markings. Similarly, you do find airlines that do this alone, i.e. running charters to ski resorts in winter, and summer holiday destinations at other times.One of the best places to find out about all that kind of stuff is in the magazine, Airliner World, which usually has all the news on which airline is up to what, as well as often having articles about such operations.Al

Charter flights, because of their somewhat irregular schedules and routes, are fun to simulate- even to make up my own. At least in the US and Europe, most charter flights are taking pax in winter from the cold northern climates to more "tropical" destinations such as the Carribean, Spain, Hawaii, etc.In real life, what do these charter airctaft and companies do in the summer? Is there a demand for charter flights in the summer- and if so, where do they fly?Thanks, Bruce.

Try googling up some destinations with charter in the searchwords. You'll find all kinds of places to plan charter routes with.

if a charter company has extra aircraft, they can lease themselves out to airlines, such as Privatair who flies for KLM, Lufthansa, etc. for periods of time. Or operate as subs for startup airlines looking to expand into new markets.Or they just furlough a few of the pilots during off season and park some aircraft

Hi Bruce --There are dozens of airplane charter companies with almost every type of equipment from small props to 747s. One can charter for any reason and any destination. Travel companies put together vacation packages using charters on a year round basis. Big companies sometimes charter big jets to take their customers or employees on junkets such as sales/performance incentive trips, etc. It isn't just a winter time thing. Btw, you can charter from the major flag carriers like United. Some majors like LH had their own charter divisions----Condor, I believe.? I Googled air charters and came up with the following: http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=C...G=Google+SearchCheck out Ryan International or Sun Country. Sun Country has an interesting history that explains their origin and current status(now a scheduled carrier). Bill La Macchia the big Kahuna who also owns Fun Jet Tours, one of the largest travel wholesaler/retailers in existence today, was an acquaintance of mine when I was in the travel agency business years ago. http://www.fundinguniverse.com/company-his...ny-History.htmlCreate your own FS charter company! Design a logo and paint up a couple ac and start hauling folks from anywhere to anywhere----any time, any season!Regards!Bruce

you might like this placehttp://www.aircharterguide.com/Default.aspx

you might like this placehttp://www.aircharterguide.com/Default.aspx

Thanks everyone. Some good info! This will keep me out of trouble for a bit :)Bruce.

Thanks everyone. Some good info! This will keep me out of trouble for a bit :)Bruce.

A bit of an old topic, but I thought I should add that up in Northern Canada, charter companies like North Cariboo Air mostly do Oilfield charters, (IE: bringing in crew from a larger city like Edmonton to a smaller town like Fort Nelson on a crew change) but also operate corporate jets, therefore they can shuttle people to larger cities or warmer destinations. Operations like these generally do pretty well in the winter AND summer months. Summer is generally a little busier because there are no Ice Roads and everything must be flown in unless there is a permanent gravel road. One local fly-in fishing company used their Twin Otter as a contract plane in the winter for the oilfield, and brought in over $30,000 dollars a month, for less than 10 hours of flying each month!!

Thanks everyone. Some good info! This will keep me out of trouble for a bit :)Bruce.

What abouy a charter to your old home town Bruce ? Earthquakes are down to one a day now and the airports open :biggrin:CheersJulian

I love doing charter flights but since I don't have a Ryan International QW757 and ATA is gone, I have to do a lot of scheduled flights to the destinations I like. Almost all of my flights are from major US hubs to destinations in the Caribbean and Mexico.We used to have so many charter flights out of DTW - Sun Country, ATA, Ryan, Allegro, USA3000 and the Apple/Funjet aircraft (both Ryan). All are gone now. It is Delta or Spirit out of DTW now if you want to go somewhere warm. Its a shame; DTW used to be one of the biggest origins for flights to Cancun but with the current economy, Funjet and Apple have moved their focus to other cities in the US.