The first Super Bowl, played in 1967 between the champions of the established National Football League (Green Bay Packers) and the upstart rival American Football League (Kansas City Chiefs), was viewed as a novelty. Even though tickets went as low as $6, sparse local interest and minimal out-of-town travel to the game led 33,000 seats to go empty in the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.

This year, tickets for sold-out Super Bowl LX at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California, are priced $6,300 and up, and nearly 1,000 chartered aircraft will fly attendees into San Francisco Bay-area airports. Unsurprisingly, the temptation exists for some cost-conscious fans to book air charter flights with operators offering too-good-to-be-true fares. That’s not a winning play.

The FAA has a clear message for people considering a charter flight to the Super Bowl or any other venue: Use good judgment and avoid signing on with an illegal or uncertificated operation that exposes you to unwanted safety risks and potential liability.

For Super Bowl air charter passengers, it is important to verify the legitimacy of the operator before you book your flight.

“The main thing is to inquire whether the aircraft is currently operating on an FAA-issued air carrier or operator certificate,” says Paul D’Allura, leader of FAA’s Safe Air Charter Team. “The operator should supply that to them. If they don’t it would raise a question mark in my mind as to whether they are legitimate or not.”

Aviation Safety Inspector Greg Young adds, “If you have a question about whether or not the aircraft they are offering is authorized under an FAA certificate, you can ask them for a copy of their operations specification (D-085). That, in conjunction with a copy of their certificate, would tell you that they are a legitimate air carrier and the aircraft they are promoting to you is available and authorized.”

More broadly, the FAA works aggressively through its Special Emphasis Investigations Team (SEIT) and Safe Air Charter Team to identify and shut down rogue operators and help passengers ensure the company they hire is legitimate. When the FAA investigates and finds fault with an operator, it can throw the ultimate “illegal procedure” penalty flag on them, resulting in a potentially significant fine and possible revocation of a pilot’s certificate.

It’s easy to identify the good teams in the air charter world. Legal air charters operate as on-demand or commuter operations under Part 135 of the federal aviation regulations and are subject to higher safety standards, with more stringent crew training and aircraft maintenance requirements than general aviation operations under Part 91. They incur and absorb necessary overhead costs to safely run their operations and stay compliant with FAA, Internal Revenue Service and in some cases Transportation Security Administration regulations.

In contrast, illegal charter operators undermine safety by avoiding:

• Formal oversight by FAA inspectors.
• Requirements to maintain high maintenance standards, including replacing parts more often, doing additional inspections, and keeping up with specialized requirements such as fire-blocking interiors.
• More stringent flight crew training and testing.  
• Rigorous flight crew and duty rest schedules. 
• FAA-approved drug and alcohol testing programs. 
• The provision of adequate insurance for flight participants.
• The 7.5% federal excise tax on air transportation. 
• Proper economic authority to operate.

Because illegal operators typically charge significantly less than legitimate Part 135 operators, such unfair competition can drive compliant operators out of business, further harming aviation safety.

“Being undercut by (illegal) operators is our members’ number one complaint,” says Jenny Ann Urban, Vice President of Regulatory Affairs for the National Air Transportation Association (NATA).

ASI Mike Bush notes that air charter operations that enter illegal territory fall into three different categories.

“We refer to them as the three Cs,” he says. “The clueless, the careless and the criminal. The clueless really have no idea of the rules. They probably don’t know what they are doing is wrong. The careless sort may have received some bad advice along the way. They think they are safe, but they may not be interested in making sure. And the criminal is intentionally breaking the rule.”

The FAA is on the offense against illegal charters with a game plan based on education, investigation and, when appropriate, enforcement. The agency’s Safe Air Charter Team’s multi-year communications campaign on the topic has featured the following:

• 235 virtual and live briefings and webinars with pilots, students in aviation schools, aircraft brokers, insurance brokers/underwriters and aviation attorneys
• 26 presentations to airport authorities
• 40 briefings to ICAO countries and foreign civil aviation authorities
• 400,000 sent emails to FAA-certificated pilots
• 41 courses on the subject offered online and in person

Partner organizations such as NATA work with the business aviation community and entire aviation ecosystem to combat illegal charters with its Avoid Illegal Charter website and other outreach.

“We’re showing a united front about the seriousness and risks of illegal air charters and our commitment to this issue,” says Urban.

The FAA’s SEIT investigates cases involving allegations of illegal air charter operations. People who suspect a charter operation may be illegal or unsafe can file a report with the FAA Hotline. Bush says the investigations process involves gathering evidence to determine if a company or individual was “holding out” or advertising and offering flights for compensation without the proper FAA authorization. Investigators look into how the flight was advertised, whether it actually occurred, if the operator was authorized to conduct such operations, and what compensation was received for the flight.

“When we investigate these cases,” adds Bush, “we want to use the least restrictive ways to get the operator back into compliance (with Part 135 regulations). In cases when the Compliance Program is not appropriate, we have to use enforcement to regain compliance.”

There are hard lessons underscoring this issue’s urgency. Today marks the seventh anniversary of the tragic 2019 English Channel illegal air charter accident that took the life of Argentinian soccer star Emiliano Sala. January 21 is designated Fly Legal Day in his memory to highlight the importance of flying on safe charters.

One can also go back 60 years before Sala’s accident to recall an event seared in our nation’s memory as “The Day the Music Died.” Shortly after midnight on a frigid February 3 in 1959, a chartered Beechcraft Bonanza took off with three passengers from Clear Lake, Iowa, into deteriorating weather conditions and crashed six miles away. Found dead at the crash site were rock and roll music legends Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and “The Big Bopper,” J.P. Richardson. The subsequent investigation determined the pilot was not qualified to operate under instrument flight rules. This event endures as a reminder for everyone touched by aviation to guard against the dangers of unsafe air charters.

Learn more about the safety risk of illegal air charters, rogue operator red flags, and get safe charter resources at faa.gov/charter.