May 5, 2023
The Honorable Pete Buttigieg
Secretary of Transportation
U.S. Department of Transportation
1200 New Jersey Ave., SE
Washington, DC 20590
The Honorable Julie Su
Acting Secretary of Labor
U.S. Department of Labor
200 Constitution Ave., NW
Washington, DC 20210
The Honorable Billy Nolen
Acting Administrator
Federal Aviation Administration
800 Independence Avenue, SW
Washington, DC 20591
The Honorable David P. Pekoske
Administrator
Transportation Security Administration
6595 Springfield Center Drive
Springfield, VA 22150
Dear Secretary of Transportation Buttigieg, Acting Secretary of Labor Su, Acting Administrator Nolen and Administrator Pekoske
We write to express concern that a previously rare and limited business model for air service, once confined to private jet charters, is expanding so rapidly that it threatens to take over a large part of the air services in the United States. Airlines selling passenger tickets on flights that are scheduled in all but name are operating under a combination of rules: the safety rules of 14 CFR Part 135, the economic rules of 14 CFR Part 298 for commuter air carriers, and 14 CFR Part 380 for public charters. Because of a loophole created by that combination of rules, these airlines are able to skirt safety and security regulations that your departments and agencies enforce. A pending application
before DOT by a unit of SkyWest Airlines implicates this business model, as we will describe.
One such air carrier is branded as “JSX.” The operator is Delux Public Charter, LLC, d/b/a JSX Air, and the charterer and re-seller of seats is JetSuiteX, Inc. (collectively, JSX). Through this complex structure, JSX is providing scheduled passenger service between major airports available for purchase in a manner that — to the ordinary consumer – looks identical to buying a seat on a regular scheduled airline. This arrangement enables JSX to fly a self-described “hop-on jet service” with scheduled operations on aircraft limited to 30 passengers under Part 135, asserting a speedy path to the plane using “private terminals,” and “non- invasive security procedures.”
Catering only to premium customers, offering 30-seat business class jets for “hassle-free” and “crowd-free” flying, is a departure from aviation safety and creates a very real divide in aviation for who can afford access and who cannot. Air travel has become accessible for the average American, but this model threatens that access for many communities that cannot attract commercial service anthont a mix of business and leisure fares.
As a matter of safety, providing scheduled service under Part 135 skirts a host of scheduled-airline safety regulations contained in Part 121, including the 1,500-hour threshold for an Airline Transport Pilot certificate (a/k/a First Officer Qualifications), the age 65 retirement mandate, and minimum rest along with no interrupted rest. These and other Part 121 safety regulations have kept U.S. aviation as the safest mode of transportation in the world, but which do not apply to companies abusing the loophole in the regulatory regime. Operating scheduled flights in this way carries out an end-run around the FAA’s commitment since the mid-1990s to One Level of Safety, which
required that Part 135 scheduled carriers move to the higher, more stringent Part 121 standard.
As a matter of security, passengers flying these flights are not subjected to traditional TSA magnetometer and X-ray airport security checkpoints. Instead, passengers are cross-checked against the TSA No Fly List, without more screening Indeed, avoiding TSA “invasive security procedures” is the major source of the time savings and the exclusive “one percenter” experience JSX offers. Yet security requirements brought forward by TSA since the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 have been essential to maintaining the security of our nation’s aviation system and our homeland security.
We are also concerned about elevated emissions and increased airspace congestion. To fit into the regulatory gap it occupies, the aircraft are reconfigured to seat no more than 30 passengers, on regional jets designed originally to hold up to 50 passengers. This model generates more intensive emissions per passenger and in busy markets with congested airspace, the model further strains an already challenged and under-statied air traffic control svstem.
We understand the vital role many Part 135 operators play in offering passenger and cargo service to remote areas and underserved markets, creating a linkage to the larger aviation system for U.S. citizens that otherwise would not be possible, including in the Alternative Essential Air Service pilot program that permits charter flights where regularly scheduled service under the long- established Essential Air Service program is not feasible.’ It is quite another proposition, however, to run a massive number of regularly scheduled operations in the same markets already well-served by airlines, using lower safety and security standards as a competitive advantage: Contour operated approximately 16,000 flights in 2021, while JSX operated three and a half times as many – 56,326 flights — in the same period.
- Contour Airlines, Boutique Air, and Cape Air, among others operate audable service under this procram