How to charter a jet for a group of 20, 30 or 50

A group of 20 is not an eight-passenger trip with more seats. Two lines in the FAA’s rules change who may fly it and who has to be aboard. One is at 19 passenger seats. The other is at 30 seats or 7,500 pounds of payload. A quote for a large group that does not say which side of each line the aircraft is on has not told you what you are buying.

The short version

• Past 19 seats, a flight attendant is required. 14 CFR 135.107 applies to an aircraft with more than 19 passenger seats, whoever is aboard.
• Past 30 seats, or 7,500 pounds of payload, it is Part 121. Those aircraft are flown as supplemental operations under the airline rulebook, not as on-demand Part 135 charters.
• A Part 135 certificate does not stretch to a large aircraft. The operator must hold the authority for the size it is flying.
• A public charter is a different product. It sells seats to many people. A group booking the aircraft is an ordinary charter.
• Ask for seats installed. The rules count seats installed, not people aboard.

At what group size do the rules change?

At 19 seats, at 30 seats and at 50 seats, and at 7,500 pounds of payload alongside the seat counts. The FAA defines an on-demand operation as a charter flown with airplanes of 30 passenger seats or fewer, excluding crew seats, and a payload of 7,500 pounds or less. Above either number the flight becomes a supplemental operation, one of the airline categories under Part 121.

The table gives the rules by seats installed in the aircraft.

Do you need a flight attendant on a private jet charter?

Yes, once the aircraft has more than 19 passenger seats. The rule is one sentence:

No certificate holder may operate an aircraft that has a passenger seating configuration, excluding any pilot seat, of more than 19 unless there is a flight attendant crewmember on board the aircraft.

Two things in that sentence decide a group booking. It counts seats, so a 20-seat aircraft with 12 people aboard still needs a flight attendant. And it sets a floor of one. The Part 121 rules above 30 seats add more as the cabin grows: one flight attendant up to 50 passengers, two from 51 to 100, and one more for each 50 seats, or part of 50, beyond 100.

For a group planner the consequence is simple: the quote has to say how many flight attendants are aboard.

What is a Part 121 supplemental charter?

It is a charter flown on an airline-category rulebook. Part 121 covers aircraft with more than 30 passenger seats or a payload above 7,500 pounds. A supplemental operation is the charter version: a flight whose departure time, departure location and arrival location are negotiated with the customer, flown by a carrier with airline authority.

An on-demand charter operator can fly these only with authority the FAA gives it. 14 CFR 119.21 lets an on-demand operator conduct supplemental operations “provided they obtain authorization from the Administrator”. Ask the operator for the document that shows it. Without it, a Part 135 certificate is written for aircraft of 30 seats or fewer. Part 91 versus Part 135 shows how to look an operator up and read its certificate.

Is a public charter different from chartering the whole aircraft?

Yes. A public charter under 14 CFR Part 380 is a flight where a charter operator sells seats to the public on an aircraft chartered from a direct air carrier. A company or a wedding party that books the aircraft for its own people is not buying a public charter. If seats are being sold to people you do not know, the flight is likely a public charter and Part 380 applies. Can you buy a single seat on a private jet? covers that case.

What should the quote for a large group say?

Six things, in writing:

1. The operator’s name and the certificate it flies under. Part 135 or Part 121.
2. The aircraft and the seats installed. The rules turn on this number.
3. The flight attendants carried. One at 20 seats; more as the cabin grows.
4. The payload. Above 7,500 pounds the flight is supplemental whatever the seat count.
5. Whether the group fits. Count the people against seats installed, and count the bags separately. What size jet you need shows how to size a cabin for people, and how much luggage you can bring how to size it for bags.
6. The broker’s role. A broker arranges the flight and does not fly it. What a private jet broker does lists what the broker must disclose.

What Jake does

Lombardi Jet Services is a broker. For a group, Jake asks the operator for the aircraft’s seats installed and its certificate, and names the operator and the aircraft in the quote. He deals with the certificate holder, as he does on any trip.