Hi everyone! I'm enrolled in an Air Traffic Administration class an we have a project where we have to start a company. Our group has decided to start an FBO/Charter and I'm the group leader. Anybody got any tips on where to start? Anybody who's actually started one or manages one have any tips? Thanks!
Take your start up capital. Burn it. It saves you a few years of work.
Seriously, I could give quite the educational lecture on both, but I will stick with the Charter:
1) Form an LLC
2) Find an airplane that fits your market
3) Spend $10,000-$??????? bring it to 135 standards
4) While performing #3, apply to the FAA for a 135 certificate
5) Wait 1-6 months for a reply for the FAA
6) Go to meeting with FAA where they try to dissuade you from moving forward by telling you that it takes years to get a 135 certificate.
7) Decide if it is worth it.
8) You have nothing better to do, so you press on.
9) Work on 135 documents
10) Send documents to FAA
11) FAA responds in 1-6 months
12) Documents were wrong. Fix them.
13) Send back to FAA
14) Repeat step 12 10-100 times as once they find a mistake, they stop looking at your documents. By the time they actually read through your whole compliance statement, all of the regulations have changed so go back to step 7 and repeat.
15) Documents approved. Find an insurance company that can insure you for 135 operations. Submit insurance coverage documents to DOT and await approval.
16) Chief Pilot/Pilots Checkrides and Aircraft conformity check complete.
17) It could take 1-6 months to receive your approved compliance statement, MEL, and charter certificate.
18) Now it is time to make money! Of course, you have now spent from 12 months to 36 months with an aircraft and other overhead and it will be impossible to make that money back.
19) In hindsight, you decide it would have been easier, faster, and less of a headache to buy someone else's charter company.
And if you think that is bad, dealing with the EPA and all of the crazy fuel requirements is even worse!
Michael
