The FAA says it will soon issue a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking that will address safety issues in so-called public charter carriers that operate scheduled services under Part 135 rules. FAA Administrator Mike Whitaker said in a statement that could ultimately result in a separate category for these types of carriers, commonly referred to as hop-on charters. “If a company is effectively operating as a scheduled airline, the FAA needs to determine whether those operations should follow the same stringent rules as scheduled airlines,” Whitaker said. Although the public charter option has been available for more than 40 years, it’s been in the last decade that Part 135 operators have exploited what some 121 carriers have characterized as a loophole in the regs.
This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://www.avweb.com/aviation-news/faa-getting-ready-to-rule-on-public-charter-scheduled-service