I don't understand the point of this thread, at all.
Celticrambler enters to tell us that he has a "paradigm shift" in safety. It turns out he wants to charter an aircraft and apparently can't afford it. What is the problem, then?
What has any of this got to do with the price of tea in China, or safety, for that matter.
Go groups of people who want to go from A to B and don't want to use an airline? Use a charter service. Problem solved.
Upset that airlines don't want to dedicate an aircraft to a few passengers in an off-line arrangement? Use a charter service. Problem solved.
Don't understand why an airline won't open a new base for a few occasional passengers and dedicate aircraft to that new line of flying? Use a charter service. Problem solved.
The original poster stated he was in management. Clearly he's not in airline management, else he hasn't a clue how the system works.
When an airline is given permission to operate, it's also given permission to operate in certain locations, certain routes, etc. It's not at all a matter of simply showing up anywhere and flying people from A to B. That's what charter services are for. Why not ask the military? Why not ask the government? Because these groups don't apply to what the original poster wants? Correct. Same reason why one doesn't ask an airline to do it. It's not a function of an airline. It's a job for a charter service.
Charter an aircraft. Problem solved.
Cost too high? Go to an airport where there's airline service and catch a flight. Problem solved. Catch a train. Problem solved. Drive. Problem solved. Walk. Problem solved. Catch a bus. Problem solved. I think you get the idea.
They're asking me to tell them how I'm going to work, asking me to write my own Manual of Ops, and then cover my costs in advance.
Imagine that. You want to start chartering flights and you're expected to demonstrate to the same standard that everyone else does, in order to do what everyone else does. How revolutionary.
In my "day job" I have the opportunity to cause or suffer death and/or serious injury by a dozen different means every hour of the working day.
In aviation we try to approach things a little differently, you see. We have many opportunities to avoid death or serious injury every day, and we take every one we can.
You're in management, and you risk causing death or serious injury each day? Managing people to death, or managing someone into serious injury? You think CAA is different? I think you're different.
The regulators of that environment are seriously anal (even to the point of dictating the maximum size of the letters on signs/notices displayed to the public ) and the safety rules are simple: do exactly what we say, how we say, when we say, and if you don't, we'll crucify you (assuming you didn't kill yourself already). The one thing they don't do, though, is tell me how to run my business - that's between me, the bank and the taxman (and a seperate standards agency if I want a nice logo for my stationery).
If you want "seriously anal," then you want CAA, or any other regulatory body in aviation.
You should absolutely expect to be told how to run your business, insofar as where you can fly, what you can fly, when you can fly it, how you can fly it under what circumstances you can fly it, how you must maintain it, who you drug test that does the flying and the maintenance, the personnel you'll need running your program, the insurance you carry, how you charge, and numerous other factors surrounding your operation. If, of course, you intend to do the chartering. If you don't, then hire a charter service to do it for you. They've already met these requirements, and continue to meet them on an ongoing basis.
Problem solved.