PrivateFly Private Jet Charter Safety

As part of Directional Aviation, one of the world's largest business aviation groups, PrivateFly takes an industry-leading approach to private jet charter safety. We are also both an ARGUS Certified Broker (and were only the second in Europe to achieve this accreditation) and a Wyvern Broker - industry accreditations which indicate the highest levels of safety and best practice.

PrivateFly's safety commitment | Argus & Wyvern safety ratings | Air Operator Certificate

PrivateFly's safety commitment

As part of Directional Aviation's OneSky family, the aircraft operators that carry out PrivateFly's flights (ie our operator suppliers) are subject to rigorous standards of safety and service. These industry-leading standards are set by our OneSky Safety Officers, who report directly into our parent group's senior executive team.

In Europe our Safety Officer is Garreth Horrocks, an experienced pilot and former airline captain with over 10,000 hours of flying experience. Garreth has extensive experience in training and aviation safety standards - gained over 20 years in the aviation industry.

Garreth's role, working closely with our Chief Safety Officer in the USA, is to fully audit and certify the operators we work with, according to our group's recognised standards of safety and service. These standards are based upon due diligence and international best practice standards with regards to Flight Operations and Training Standard Operating Procedures; minimum levels of crew experience; regulatory oversight from country of origin; and Maintenance and Technical Standard Operating procedures. We also require a minimum amount of insurance coverage for flights.

Our certification of operators now extends to their standards relating to COVID-19 including aircraft cleaning regimes and other protocols that have been introduced, in line with EASA guidance.

This is a continuous auditing process and each and every flight goes through a thorough Trip Check where we audit the operator, crew and aircraft. A copy of the Trip Check is available for your flights on request, verifying that the operator, aircraft and crew chosen for your trip meet our rigorous safety requirements.

Our European Safety Officer Garreth Horrocks is also available on request, to speak directly to any client, to share more details of this process, or to discuss specific details that pertain to your flight. You can arrange a call via your sales representative or our Client Services team.

Argus & Wyvern ratings

ARGUS and Wyvern are the leading safety and best practice auditors for both operators and brokers in the business aviation industry.

PrivateFly is an ARGUS Certified Broker, which demonstrates our credibility, financial strength and organisational processes, as well as our principles, and culture.

The ARGUS Registered and Certified Broker Program allows professional air charter brokers a recognised and respected mechanism to inform aircraft operators and charter consumers of the operating standards they adhere to.

To achieve certified ARGUS status, PrivateFly had to undergo a thorough review of our data, documentation and practices - which was carried out by ARGUS.

As a Wyvern Broker, we ensure that each flight we book meets the trip requirements established by the Wyvern in The Wingman Standard. This is an industry-leading safety standard that far exceeds the minimum regulatory requirements for air charter and was developed by Wyvern in cooperation with the industry's largest flight departments and charter buyers.

Aircraft operators in the USA and parts of Europe are also audited for safety by ARGUS and Wyvern. These are optional accreditations which allow an aircraft operator to hold and promote a rating, which is based on a number of factors, including the safety history of a charter operator, and its training and maintenance programs for aircraft and crew.

ARGUS provides a system of evaluating charter operators called CHEQ (Charter Evaluation and Qualification), which gives one of four rating tiers to operators: Does Not Qualify, Gold, Gold Plus and Platinum. Wyvern provides its PASS (Pilot & Aircraft Safety Survey) program, to give either a ‘Registered’ (entry-level) or ‘Wingman’ (advanced) standard to operators.

AOC (Air Operator Certificate)

In order to operate private jet charter flights, aircraft operators have to complete a thorough process, by law, to satisfy the relevant country's national aviation authority that they are competent to undertake safe commercial operation of aircraft.

If this set of stringent requirements is met, an Air Operator Certificate (AOC) will be granted. This is alternatively known as an Air Carrier Operating Certificate in the USA.

The requirements for an AOC do vary from country to country, but generally includes an audit of areas such as company safety policy; management and organisational competence; crew training; aircraft maintenance; aircraft loading; flight planning; and fuel planning. It normally takes an operator or airline over 2 years to be issued with an AOC. It is a vigorous process and many new start-ups fail to be granted this licence to fly passengers.

PrivateFly only works with approved operators who have a current AOC certification.