Air Charter Services Key Terms

Understand some basic terminology surrounding air charter services

By Cathy Salustri

If your business uses air charter services, you may already know some of the terminology used in the air charter business. But if you're new to chartering airplanes for business travel, you may not yet understand some of the words used by pilots, crew or the charter broker who books your company's air charter services.

Spend some time looking over the terms provided in this business guide. They'll help you glean some basic information about air charter services, so you can discuss your company's needs more thoroughly with your air charter services broker.

Aircraft charter operator

An aircraft charter operator is a business that holds the appropriate licenses from the Federal Aviation Administration, or FAA, and sells its charter services at either retail or wholesale prices.
Try: The National Business Aviation Association describes what a good aircraft charter operator should offer its clients. It also describes how an aircraft charter operator works.

Part 91 and Part 135

Part 91 and Part 135 govern private planes and commercial planes for hire, respectively. The FAA issues these licenses.
Try: JetSales.com explains the ins and outs of both Part 91 and Part 135. This website also compares and contrasts the two federal codes.

Fixed base operator

A fixed base operator, or FBO, is a service plaza for airplanes. Typically an FBO offers aviation fuel, supplies, maintenance and repair and charter services, although services offered may vary from airport to airport.
Try: Stratos Jet Charters goes into detail explaining the function of fixed base operators.

Positioning, positioning time, and repositioning time

These terms refer to getting an airplane in the proper place for a scheduled flight. Positioning refers to a scheduled flight with passengers.
Try: Exquisite Air Charter explains these terms and how they relate to each other. Paramount Business Jets explains the process of positioning, citing examples.

General aviation (GA)

General aviation refers to any non-military flight except for scheduled passenger flights such as Delta or American Airlines. This includes aircraft charter services.
Try: General Aviation Serves America is a website dedicate to providing education to the public on GA and its role in the economy. You can find out what GA is and learn more about it by visiting the site.

Segments and legs

Segments and legs refer to portions of the charter trip. A segment is the time between takeoff and landing. A leg refers to travel between two points. Although some people use these two terms interchangeably, a leg may not include stops for fuel while a segment refers only to time in the air. Therefore the leg time may be longer than the segment time.
Try: Both Air Charter Guide and Worldtek Travel describe the similarities and differences between a segment and a leg.