Originally Posted by
airmotive
This....except there's nothing 'potential' about it. Part 121 operations are an entirely different animal than part 135 (or Part 125 for larger aircraft).
It's no accident (pun intended) that Part 135 operators have an accident rate 50x higher than Part 121.
Source:
http://www.oig.dot.gov/sites/dot/fil...g_Mar%2017.pdf
Charter is definitely more dangerous than Part 121 airlines (and
professionally flown Part 91 corporate aviation, which has a safety record comparable to the airlines) but bear in mind that a lot of different types of flying are lumped into the on-demand category which has a 50X higher accident rate. As the linked report points out:
Originally Posted by USDOT
The most fatalities for the period 2003 through 2008 occurred in the states of Alaska and Hawaii and in the Gulf of Mexico. In both Alaska and Hawaii, on-demand air tours are common, and small planes are a major source of transportation for people and cargo. In the Gulf of Mexico, there are numerous helicopter operations delivering crews and supplies to oil rigs.
Anyway, back to the regs, what would legally prevent an airline from chartering a Part 135 bizjet and allowing stranded pax to voluntarily elect to fly on that 135 trip as long as the actual AOC holder operating the flight is fully disclosed?
A 121 air carrier is more than happy to sell me a ticket for a flight operated by some other 121 (or foreign) air carrier.
I get that 121 and 135 play by different rules. I also know that for purely economic reasons there isn't a snowball's chance of a major US airline chartering a bizjet for passengers. But, from a legal perspective, why couldn't they offer passengers reaccom on a 135 charter?
I can put funds on deposit with Delta Private Jets and use those funds for either Part 121 travel on Delta Air Lines (or some other random Part 121 AOC-holder with nothing to do with Delta except paint that says Delta Connection) or Part 135 flights operated by Delta Private Jets or perhaps whatever other 135 ticket DPJ wants to outsource the trip to on any given day...