I don't know if this is new news or not: https://onemileatatime.com/news/faa-cracks-down-public-charter-loophole
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Has anybody on the inside heard anything new recently?

 

They should close the loophole. It's not scheduled because the company that sells the tickets isn't the company that operates the flights? GMAFB, you could say the same about all the regionals. But give them a grace period to get their house in order, on the off chance the model can survive under 121 rules. I don't really blame them for the loophole, that's on the regulators.

 

I'm sure the vast majority are against age 67.

 

Didn't JSX just crash an airplane on the runway attempting to land? That'll help their chances.

 

Is it ironic that this is in the "charter" forum?

 

How about AA in Jamaica... How about SW nose diving for the deep 6 in HI? They go out of business? Passengers fleeing to alternate other carriers? Rather than posing a quesition in an accusational, turn our question into a fact based report. Better credibility... eh? How about maintenance issues with the 121s? Tires and engine cowels separating from their aircraft.

 

But JSX's one was a full on crash. Did you see the pics? Landing gear through the wing. I mean...dammmm.

 

Yeah and I saw pictures of Alaska Airlines Flight 1288 landed at SNA last year.

 

Actually, it's not really the same. When I was at ALPA National we researched putting together a test case for petitioning to have a regional airline removed from the RLA

The argument was to be that it was not an airline at all. It was a staffing and training company. They flew planes owned by the mainline contractor. They owned no gates, no ground equipment, no planes; they sold no tickets and accepted no charters. They solely existed to staff and use another companies equipment.

This was actually seriously being looked at. It fits exactly with what you just pointed out about JSX.

Then we hit one single issue. The staffing & training company held a piece of paper from the federal government that contradicted all of that common sense logic. The company held a part 121 Air Carrier Certificate, making it an airline, not a staffing & taining company. So that regional was an airline that owned nothing, sold nothing, and just staffed & trained people.

I'm sure the argument will be the travel-vacation company decides when and where to fly, and just charters JSX. I don't really buy that "hands off" theory. It looks like the FAA didn't either.

 

I'm sure the majority are not.

We'll never know though, because ALPO didn't even ask/poll the membership