Originally Posted by
desertwest
Semantics.
A public charter allows anyone who can pay for a ticket to book a flight between two (or more) city pairs with a pre-defined departure date/time of a frequency not limited by Part 135 rules.
As a passenger, tell me how booking a ticket on flyviaair.com differs from southwest.com.
Via is a direct air carrier under Part 135. Southwest is scheduled airline service under Part 121.
Semantics.
No, "viaair" is *not* a direct air carrier, the are an
indirect carrier That is how they are able to do what they do.
A
direct air carrier may not provide scheduled air transportation in aircraft with more than 9 seats under part 135, which is what is under discussion here. That's why Great Lakes removed all but 9 seats from their 1900's.
I will agree that Viaair has managed to bend the definition of "Charter" to look a a great deal like "scheduled service", but they are not a direct air carrier as is Great Lakes. Viaair is an indirect carrier which charters flights from the direct air carrier "Charter Air Transport". They are both owned by the same holding company, but legally, they are separate entities. As far as how it differs from flying on a airline, on a "charter" you sign a contract agreeing to carriage on a specific flight or pair of flights. You are not able to book an open ended return, nor can you change your reservation with a phone call, like you can with the higher fare class tickets on an actual airline. It's also not permitted to have code share arrangements with other airlines with public charters through an indirect carrier like via air.
The Part 135 certificate holder, Charter Air Transport" is not providing scheduled air transportation. They are chartering their aircraft to ViaAir for a predefined set of flights.