The Dark Side of Jet Sharing: Inside the illegal flights plaguing private aviation

Aviation leaders are sounding the alarm on a growing trend of private jet ‘ride-sharing', which is often coordinated through WhatsApp or similar platforms. During a panel at the Corporate Jet Investor conference this month in Miami, experts warned that ride-sharing poses major safety, regulatory, and legal risks. "It's spreading like COVID through the industry," shareholder and partner at Vedder Price, David Hernandez, said to kick off the panel discussion. "It's going to touch everything and everyone sooner or later." The discussion featured Dan Harris of Ironbird Partners, Barry Lambert of Southern Sky Aviation, Jacquie Dalton of Sparrow Executive Jets, and Wade Black of Magnifica Air, offering perspectives from across the charter, management and regulatory sectors. The panelists agreed that customer demand for affordable access to private aviation is what's driving the growth of illegal seat-selling. "The consumer, obviously, wants it, and we have been unable to provide a solution to the consumer," Harris said. "And because of that, they have gone to WhatsApp groups and other ways to fill that need." Lambert said he has lost business over it and called the practice problematic, adding that aircraft owners wanting to sell seats to recover costs could be unaware of the legal consequences. But Dalton, a broker, was blunt and said the industry can go low, and they'll go high. "We have an obligation to provide safety and quality of service, and the problem with ride sharing and seat selling isn't just that it's illegal. It's really degrading the value of ultimately what it takes to run a good flight operation; we're seeing it consistently," he said. "I don't necessarily think that the consumer wants it as much as there are players in the industry who are telling the consumer to want it, and creating a problem that they have a solution for. I think that a big message is that the consumer wants a better flying experience than what typical ride-sharing and seat-selling solutions, which are commercial, provide." Unlicensed charter flights operate without proper insurance, oversight, or security standards. "One of the big issues, I think, is the risk. Just understanding that this is an illegal activity. And trying to convey to people what this means, at least from a legal perspective, you really have no rights," Hernandez said. "If something goes wrong, you can't really sue somebody for being involved in illegal activity." Harris agreed. "If you were flying on an airplane that is not on a legal 135 certificate, there is an incident, there is no insurance protection for you, your family, your business," he said. "So, if you are a wealthy individual and you want to save $2,000 or $5,000 and buy a seat, and you do not know that the airplane you're flying on is not 135, and that airplane has an incident, your own insurance policy, the airplane's insurance policy can be void. You could potentially lose a lot more; you're risking a lot more just to save maybe a few thousand dollars." Unvetted passengers also pose a risk to the aircraft and crew. RELATED ARTICLES:How to prevent illegal private jet chartersTexas-based direct air carrier company facing charges for illegal charter servicesFly Legal Day - raising awareness of the dangers of illegal charter operations"We don't have a sterile flight deck. We don't have secure doors," Lambert said. "Now they have access to the pilots, now we're endangering our employees, because how are we vetting these passengers?" The panelists questioned whether the FAA could do more to stop seat-selling and ride-sharing from growing. Hernandez, a former FAA prosecutor, said the agency has the tools to curb the illegal activity but lacks urgency and resources. "You could shut this stuff down with a motivated POI or FAA inspector who's getting paid, a couple of subpoenas, and press releases," he said. "There's nothing that scares the hell out of someone more than getting a subpoena." The panelists collectively urged operators and brokers to self-police, report violators and educate passengers. "If you don't report, then the FAA doesn't know there's a problem because they're not in our markets," Lambert said. "So once those reports happen, those get reported to Congress, and then Congress can start making efforts to help us. But the regulations are already there. They're just not being enforced because of staffing issues." While the panel condemned illegal seat-selling, they all acknowledged the consumer desire for more options. Harris said self-aggregation, where a group jointly books a flight through a certified operator, can be done legally. Magnifica Air, Wade Black's company, aims to meet the demand by operating under Part 121, the same certification used for commercial airlines. "We're introducing a whole new class of service called private class, where we're creating this ACGA experience, you know, we'll fly on the private side of the terminal and be able to provide a service that nobody else can provide," he said. Magnifica Air plans to begin U.S. operations in about a year after becoming fully certified, Black added. The company will use new Airbus A321neo and A220-300 aircraft, which will be turned into Airbus Corporate Jets. "We're going to expand the market. I mean, we're creating a product that doesn't exist right now, obviously, when we're talking about ride sharing," Black said. "The public is looking for alternative ways to travel, and I think what we're doing is helping address that need, and we're just going to add to the market and make it better for everyone." Panelists concluded that education, enforcement, and innovation are the only ways forward. Although new companies like Magnifica Air will introduce a new, legal way to ‘seat-share', until passengers understand the risks, illegal charters will continue to be a threat to the safety of private aviation and its reputation.