135 Operator sought for buy out
 

Good morning all,

I have a consulting client who is looking for a small 135 operator who is seeking to exit the business. Single pilot or multiple pilots with under 9 seat authorization.

No brokers please. My client wants to deal directly with the owner.

Thank you,
Walt

Hi,
Take a look here:
https://dealstream.com/air-charter-a...esses-for-sale

Seems like want $75,000 for a certificate only. I believe 135 certificates are not easily transferable.
Starting a 135 operation from scratch can take from 6 to 18 months.
I have done Letters of Compliance and manuals for 135 operations and feel free to contact me. I'm new here and not sure if you can send me a private message.

you can not transfer a certificate period dot. A certificate is an approval not a tangible item. One can only sell a company with a certificate. I have purchased a company for the certificate and it was still a pain in the butt and took so long it nearly bankrupted us.

Correct. The certificate alone cannot be sold. The company that owns the certificate may be sold, and the certificate may transfer to the new company owner.

Anyone contemplating buying a company that holds a certificate should have a meeting with the FSDO that maintains the certificate, and the seller and buyer both attend. It’s not a cut and dry process.

Even then they may not be willing to transfer the certificate. I was part of a group who started an airline a few years ago. We were in line for a new certificate with a 2 year wait and we purchased an existing 135. The FAA refused to allow us to continue to operate on the certificate for the airline we had purchased. They even threatened us for having a website that basically said "coming soon". After about 2 years of farting around we ran out of money.

Make sure the FAA is on board with this if you go through with it.

Ironically the guys we bought it from just put the new owner on the existing certificate with the old owners and after a couple of years just removed the old owners. Wish we had done that.......

The Air Carrier certificate doesn’t transfer as it’s an asset of the company. The company can be sold to a new owner, but the FAA may want to re-evaluate certain parts of the certificate before reissuing OpSpecs.

Lots of factors involved, this is why having a meeting with the FSDO with all parties involved is essential. It also helps to have a complete plan in place if 119 personnel are changing, or if equipment is changing.

How do you make a million dollar charter company?

Start with two million dollars.

You must know people in high places. Try 5-10 million. Then you might be closer to a million dollar airline.

The other wild card is that not all FSDO offices are the same. Some can be far more difficult to deal with.