private charter companies

omapilot

Well-Known Member
I was curious about anyone's experience with working at a charter company. I have seen a few job postings in different places and thought about applying for some experience. I know its not 121 but at least some similar duties. Good idea to get the experience? Anything to be wary of when applying? Any input would be appreciated ty:)
 
From what I understand, you'll do a lot more than just flight planning/following. Everything from arranging ground ops, scheduling, taking care of catering to possibly even sales. I've never worked for a 135 op, but this is what I remember from previous threads on here.
 
From what I understand, you'll do a lot more than just flight planning/following. Everything from arranging ground ops, scheduling, taking care of catering to possibly even sales. I've never worked for a 135 op, but this is what I remember from previous threads on here.
 
I have read that before from previous posts. My preference of course is 121 but just wondered if it was better to be working for a charter company in the meantime than a field unrelated.
 
I ended up going that route and I really enjoy it. It pays better than a regional and yeah it's more work but I like most of it. I think it's a good stepping stone. It's also allowing me to save up and then be picky when I want to change to a Part 121 airline. You can PM me if you want to talk more about it.
 
I agree, aviation experience is experience. I started a few months ago at a 135 op, though I'm kicking myself a little for it. I was thinking more flight coordinating and some other small stuff...when really it's everything else and some flight coordinating. I'm basically a customer service agent, freight receiver, reservations scheduler, charter coordinator (taking calls for charters and the like), and billing agent. I do some flight coordinating each day...extra set of eyes when releasing flights (basically check the weather and everything, but pilot and DO both have the say on if they go or not, not me and the pilot), coordinating pilot schedules, ensuring duty hour times are within limitations, and figuring out who will be flying what and all, also tracking aircraft flight times so they can receive pay and to track hours for maintenance personnel.

It's an interesting job and I've learned a lot in a few months, but once an opportunity for a 121 op comes up, pretty sure I'll move on. To each their own though.
 
I agree, aviation experience is experience. I started a few months ago at a 135 op, though I'm kicking myself a little for it. I was thinking more flight coordinating and some other small stuff...when really it's everything else and some flight coordinating. I'm basically a customer service agent, freight receiver, reservations scheduler, charter coordinator (taking calls for charters and the like), and billing agent. I do some flight coordinating each day...extra set of eyes when releasing flights (basically check the weather and everything, but pilot and DO both have the say on if they go or not, not me and the pilot), coordinating pilot schedules, ensuring duty hour times are within limitations, and figuring out who will be flying what and all, also tracking aircraft flight times so they can receive pay and to track hours for maintenance personnel.

It's an interesting job and I've learned a lot in a few months, but once an opportunity for a 121 op comes up, pretty sure I'll move on. To each their own though.

Yeah I know the struggle. Like all past relationships it's one of those things where I'm glad I did it, sometimes miss it, but overall I'm glad I've moved on.

I was fortunate enough to be somewhere that had 121 Ops as well, so I think that helped. I'd say I was at a 70/30 shop (70% Charter/Cargo, 30% Legit Dispatching) and I think a good mix of Flight Coordination to Charter Coordination should be as close to 50/50 as possible.
 
I have a prt time gig at a 135 shop since i was furloughed in Sep. It's cool and it's airplanes.
The people here are super nice. Not too stressful like a 121 shop with 100 planes in the air.....
It is, in fact, a very interesting side of aviation, one worth checking out at least for a short time.
Unfortunately, the wages and benefits in the 135 charter world will NEVER match most dispatching gigs...so making a career of it is not in the cards for most with a DX cert. So, yes, you will be better off moving on to 121 dispatching gig when you can.
This company is looking for one more P/T person right now it anyone is interested. We are at OAK , (North field)
PM me is you wanna know more. $15/hr.
 
Boiler and I both worked for the same place and I agree with that. It was a good 4 month experience but glad I moved on.

Shortly after receiving my license I applied and interviewed for numerous 135 corp style gigs and it is a handful of different tasks and very little dispatching. Of the companies I interviewed with none of them had the "dispatcher" actually doing planning/releases, all was done on the pilots iPads. Either way a foot in the door is better then having nothing in the door at all.
 
I was curious about anyone's experience with working at a charter company. I have seen a few job postings in different places and thought about applying for some experience. I know its not 121 but at least some similar duties. Good idea to get the experience? Anything to be wary of when applying? Any input would be appreciated ty:)
Bottom line is it's aviation experience, I enjoyed my time at my 135 gig and it did help me eventually get on with a major. Although everyones path is different.
From my experience the 135 gigs normally pay a bit more to start off with then most regionals, or at least it did at my shop. Womanpilot is correct tho, you must wear many hats, dealing with everything from catering to crews upset about their hotel not having a gym.......... its a different side of aviation but I never really looked at it as a career it was just a job until I could get on somewhere else, if that makes sense.
PM me if you have any other questions.
 
Ty for all the posts. The company I saw the posting for was Aviation West charters out of phoenix. Not sure if anyone knows about their operation. I will have to weigh the pros and cons but ty all for the insight:)
 
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