Fatal Crashes Highlight Rising Danger of Illicit Charter Flights
Low-cost operators can put flyers in harm’s way, at a time when airlines have never been safer. Regulators are racing to curb the risks.
A dark corner of the glamorous air-charter market, where some flight operators appear to cut corners on safety, is putting passengers at risk — and drawing increasing scrutiny from US regulators.
Numerous prominent passengers have traveled in recent years on charter flights that allegedly ran afoul of laws governing private air travel, including movie star Jamie Foxx; Hollywood producer Peter Guber; Major League Baseball and National Hockey League teams; and a governor, according to a Bloomberg News review of thousands of pages of government records and interviews with two dozen pilots, industry officials and US regulators. None of the travelers responded to questions from Bloomberg about their flights.