Rubbery rules
There has been a case where an operator had their AOC suspended, or cancelled for operating "RPT" services with a charter AOC. Bookings were made through another company which chartered the aeroplane. They decided that the booking company and the charter company were both largely controlled by one person.
The mail runs in the N.T. were run to a schedule, and seats were sold to the public and the station people. This happened for many decades. Then, for some unknown reason they decided this was not "right". The law had not changed, but all of a sudden they could only carry mail. No fresh bread, no spare parts for the Toyotas no pax. Only mail. There was outrage from the station people, and so they decided that it was not RPT if the things carried were associated with the stations. So what was not RPT became RPTand then was once again not RPT.
Another charter service was shut down in North Queensland. During the court hearing the lawyers
decided that if a flight was arranged for the following day then that was a scheduled flight, and if seats were sold to the public, that made it RPT.
By that judgement, every charter company in Australia is operating scheduled flights.
The law also states that no-one can sell seats on an air service to the public without having an AOC.
Do Jetset and Flight Centre have AOC's?
And do Caribous meet civil standards for RPT services? It's apparently OK to fly civilian schoolkids to sxchool in a Caribou.
It is common for some operators to try to get their competitors legislated away. I believe it some times happens, but mostly it's just sour grapes.
There are "sensitive situations" especially for those organisations that get propped up with taxpayers money. I believe there was one doing RPT in C210's for decades.
There is/was a charter organisation doing routine maintenance (including 100 hourly inspections) on an airfield that did not have a single hangar. Lames would fly in, do the work out in the open, and fly out again. "sensitive"?
The rules are complex, and appear to be rubbery.