Chantilly Air

Airlines are often the appropriate way to go. However, depending on a specific trip's itinerary and the value placed on passenger time and productivity, travel by business aircraft is often the least expensive way to go when all costs and benefits are considered. Consequently, business aircraft frequently pass a cost/benefit test better. These employee travel judgments, typically made on a trip-by-trip basis, are subject to the same cost/benefit considerations and analysis applicable to any business decision. Some necessary trips are too tricky and time-consuming for airlines, making the trip untenable and subsequently untaken unless a more effective form of transportation, such as business aircraft, allows the opportunity to be realized.

For many companies, protecting personnel from uncontrolled public exposure alone justifies the use of business aircraft. Avoiding eavesdropping, reducing travel visibility, and eliminating unwanted and unnecessary conversations and interruptions all support the use of business aircraft to safeguard company employees and the sensitive information they carry.

TSA security screeners will screen you and your baggage at the gateway. The screening process is like that at a commercial airport, except you do not have to wait in line! Generally, when you are ready to board our aircraft, TSA will need no more than a few minutes to complete the screening process of all passengers and their baggage.

We also do not require you to "check-in" early for your flight as you would have to do with an airline. As for all our flights, we will depart as soon as you get to the airport. However, we ask that you please not be late for DCA flights. Although TSA will attempt to accommodate changes to departure times, TSA may not be able to accommodate every rescheduling of the departure time, depending on the availability of TSA screeners at the new requested departure time.

"Efficient employee scheduling" and "employee time saved" are key advantages of business aircraft use. Because business aircraft can fly nonstop between 3,500 small, close-in airports—ten times the number of locations served by scheduled airlines in the United States—highly efficient employee time management becomes a real benefit.

Additionally, the value of employee time often exceeds its cost to the company by substantial margins, increasing the importance of employee time savings. Simply stated, business aviation helps a company obtain maximum productivity from its two most important assets: people and time.

Employee productivity sustained en route to a business destination—in a secure office environment, free from interruptions, distractions, or eavesdropping—can have substantial value to an employer. Group productivity is maximized due to the expected availability of club seating and tables, often unique to business aircraft. Strategizing before meetings and debriefing afterward are standard practices usually facilitated and encouraged by business aircraft cabin configurations.

Click here to view the NBAA Aircraft Charter Consumer Guide.

The following will help you in selecting a charter operator.

1. Who is the FAA-certified charter operator that will conduct your charter flight?
   
   1. What is the name and Certificate Number on the FAA commercial air carrier certificate?
2. How long have you been in business:
   1. In aviation?
   2. As an air charter operator?
3. What types of aircraft are on your charter certificate?
4. How many aircraft and crew do you have?
5. What experience does your crew have?
   1. How many flight hours total time?
      1. Captain
      2. First Officer
   2. How many hours in make/model of each aircraft? (e.g., what are your policies and procedures on crew pairing?)
   3. Do you use FAA Part 142 training schools?
   4. How often do your crews attend re-current training?
   5. Is this training schedule above and beyond the minimum training requirements established by the FAA?
6. If special operations (e.g., mountain airports, extended over water) will be conducted, what experience (initial and recurrent) does the crew have with these operations?

Safety and Security

1. What is your safety record?
   1. Have you had any aircraft accidents or incidents?
      1. If so, what measures have you implemented to ensure increased safety?
2. Have you been audited by an independent third-party organization (e.g., Wyvern, ARG/US)

Aircraft Maintenance

1. Who maintains the aircraft?
2. Under which program is the aircraft maintained (CAMP, AAIP, factory maintenance program, another program)?
3. How do you handle maintenance situations that, on occasion, might arise during a trip you have booked?

International Operations

1. What experience do you have flying to/from/within other countries?
2. What, if any, different safety and security measures do you implement when conducting operations to other countries?
3. Will you assist with immigration and customs logistics, such as visas and customs forms?

Customer Service

1. Do the crews and other employees receive customer service training?
2. How soon prior to the scheduled flight will the aircraft be at the airport, ready for departure?
3. Is there someone available 24 hours/day, seven days/week for reserving or changing charter reservations?

Aviation Insurance

1. What company issues the aviation insurance policy?
   1. Is the operator you are dealing with the Named Insured on the policy?
   2. What are the insurance coverages and limits?

TSA requires that security screeners screen passengers on flights to or from DCA. The security screening is the same as that required for passengers on commercial airlines and generally takes only a few minutes. TSA also requires that aircraft and crew that fly to or from DCA without passengers (for instance, repositioning flights) be screened by TSA personnel.

Only specific airports ("gateway airports") are equipped to accommodate this screening process. Only these airports have been approved by TSA as gateway airports for flights to DCA. There are 103 such airports (plus one heliport), as shown on the accompanying map. Your Chantilly Air scheduler will be pleased to help you locate an appropriate gateway airport.

All flights to DCA must proceed via one of these gateway airports.  Flights from DCA can proceed directly to any airport.

For instance, if you plan a trip from Washington, DC, to Boston-Bedford's Hanscom airport (BED), operating the flight from and to DCA is an ideal solution since we do not have to stop at a gateway airport that is not on your planned flight route. You simply board the airplane at DCA for your outbound flight, and the same is true for your return flight to DCA.

If you plan a trip from Washington, DC, to an airport that is not a gateway, DCA can still be a component of an optimal travel plan. We simply pick you up at DCA and fly you to your destination. In this case, we suggest we fly to Dulles or another surrounding airport in the Washington, DC, area for the return flight. We can still fly you to DCA on the return flight, but that would involve stopping at a gateway airport to clear security, and we feel that this might delay your flight unnecessarily.

For the same reason that only specific "gateway" airports can accommodate the security measures required for DCA flights, only certain FBOs at each airport can accommodate these security measures.

Your Chantilly Air scheduler will be pleased to help you find an appropriate FBO at the gateway airport.

For some customers, flying out of Manassas or Dulles Airport might be a preferred option due to potential cost savings. However, other clients may find DCA's proximity to the nation's capital extremely important, which is why Chantilly Air is pleased to have met the rigorous TSA requirements to offer this charter service to you.

However, if you plan to leave DCA before 7 a.m. or return to DCA after 10 p.m., we suggest you use another airport since the TSA does not support departures from DCA between 10 p.m. and 7 a.m.