Michelle Seaton
08/01/06
For years, fractional companies and their jet card programs have sought to portray the charter industry as an inherently less-safe option compared to their own programs. Until recently, the charter industry did little to counter the charge. “To be a charter broker, all you need is a phone and a website,” says Joe Moeggenberg, president of Aviation Research Group/US (ARG/US), a Cincinnati company that rates charter providers. “Some of these guys operate out of someone’s bedroom.”
It has always been true that different charter operators use different standards of pilot training and customer service. Because of that, charter customers have had trouble trusting the industry as a whole. Now there are services such as ARG/US and Palmyra, N.J.-based Wyvern Consulting that audit charter companies and provide ratings to customers.
The ARG/US service includes an online database, called the CHEQ system, in which subscribers can view safety ratings on the charter provider and a host of other information. For instance, a subscriber can type in the tail number of an aircraft and choose from a pull-down menu the names of the pilots who have been assigned to fly a route. ARG/US can access the safety record of the plane and the number of hours each pilot has logged in that type of aircraft. Furthermore, ARG/US will rate the proposed trip according to its specs, giving it a green light if the pilots have the proper training and if the aircraft is free of accident reports and up-to-date on maintenance.
The top charter brokers, including Sentient, report to ARG/US, which means they perform a safety audit on each charter operator they work with and check each trip to make sure it gets a green light.
Brokers may also be members of Wyvern, a similar service that rates individual pilots and aircraft rather than charter operators. “It’s illogical to rate a charter operator,” Wyvern founder Walt Lamon says. “Not every pilot is a top-tier pilot. Not every aircraft is airworthy enough to meet our standards.” In addition, Wyvern performs audits of international charter aircraft and pilots. Charter companies volunteer to turn over their records to charter auditors; however, the audits themselves are only as good as the information provided by the individual operators.
Still, frequent charter fliers do not have to rely on the charter broker to perform this audit. They can obtain an individual membership and use the ARG/US website (aviationresearch.com) to research their flights. They can get flight ratings, aircraft information and even information on a particular pilot’s background and experience. They can also determine whether the flight is or is not safe according to ARG/US standards. Wyvern customers can use that company’s website (wyvernltd.com) to make sure the pilots and aircraft they have booked meet the Wyvern standard.
By standardizing service, the charter industry has been able to standardize safety ratings, to some degree, and begin to answer the fractional industry’s ongoing suggestions that charter is risky.
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