I'm trying to write an aviation charter business simulation and having quite a time of it..

 

Could a student who just got out of school with his ATP etc.. could they open up there own charter company if they wanted to? (now I'm not talking opening up a NetJets type of charter but more of a small one person show, like Rose Air etc) I'm going to guess from what I've been studying so far that yes its possible, I guess the next best question.. how likely is it?

 

who are the people who do open up their own charter companies? What kind of experience flying and otherwise do they have?

 

thanks.

As far as I know an ATP is not required, a CPL should be enough. Depending on how detailed you want to make it, you may find it interesting to browse through the FAA regs: part 119 and part 135 specifically.

These links should work - let me know if you get a enter user-id/password prompt:

 

Orange Air - Application for a Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity

 

Business Jet Services - Application for a Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity

 

Platinum Airlines - Application for a Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity

 

Avjet - Application for a Foreign Charters Certificate

 

Kaiser Air - Application for a Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity

 

Frank

yes I do on every single one of them.

 

what are these links about?

First, a student just leaving school would not have an ATP. Second, if someone spent all their money getting the hours for an ATP they would not have the hundreds of thousands of dollars to start a single pilot charter.

 

1500 hours of time plus the training to Commercial would cost roughly $175,000.00

Maintenance could be outsourced and the up front cost on that would be minimal, keeping down the initial capital investment. You'd be paying maintenance as you go but would have revenue to cover it. At some stage it would be more cost effective to do it in-house but worry about that down the road.

 

As long as you're using a a popular aircraft that the maintenance company dosn't have to stock special parts for you would be ok. You would need a Person Responsible for Maintenance within your company but that can be the CEO or even Chief Pilot--a maintenance ticket is not required to be PRFM.

 

The aircraft would of course be leased and with a startup there might be a deposit required, but maybe not, depending on how it was negotiated. The Chief Pilot can have only a CP/L (or this was the case as of a few years ago) so could be the student in question. The regulator might want more hours for the Chief Pilot though so the first hire, which would a 2nd pilot, might have to fill that role until the student accumulated enough hours take over.

 

Wouldn't be a lot of requirement for support and admin stuff in the beginning and accounting and bookeeping could be outsourced. Rent would be pay as you go and hopefully you would have the revenue to support it. So yes, a newly minted CP/L holder could start a charter company with a minimum cash investment but everything is going to hinge on being able to drive some business. That is the hard part as customers are looking for reliability and a proven track record of safety in the company or the people behind it. But in theory, yes.