Every private flight in the United States operates under a set of federal rules, and the difference between them is not paperwork trivia — it decides who is allowed to sell you a seat, how the crew is trained and rested, and how the aircraft is maintained.

Part 91: private operations

Part 91 covers non-commercial flying: an owner flying their own aircraft, or a company flying its own executives. It's perfectly legal — for the owner. What Part 91 does not allow is selling transportation to the public. Crew duty-time limits are looser, maintenance programs are lighter, and there is no FAA oversight of the "carrier" as a business, because there is no carrier.

Part 135: commercial charter

When you pay for a flight, the operator must hold an air carrier certificate under Part 135 (or an equivalent Air Operator Certificate abroad). That certificate comes with real obligations:

  • Crew standards. Higher minimum experience, recurrent training, and enforced duty and rest limits.
  • Maintenance. A continuous, FAA-audited maintenance program rather than owner discretion.
  • Operational control. A certificated organization — with named, accountable managers — decides whether a flight can safely operate, not the person selling it.
  • Insurance. Commercial liability coverage appropriate for carrying paying passengers.

The gray market

"Gray charter" — Part 91 flights sold to the public as if they were charter — is the industry's known problem. It usually surfaces as a price that looks too good, an "owner's friend" arrangement, or a broker who can't name the operating certificate. Besides being illegal, it can void insurance entirely, which matters at the worst possible moment.

Three questions filter out most of it:

  1. Who is the operator, and what certificate number? Any legitimate operator answers instantly.
  2. Is this specific tail number on that certificate? Aircraft are listed individually.
  3. Who has operational control of my flight? The answer should be the certificated operator — not a broker, not the owner.

How Yond handles this

Every operator on Yond is a certificated carrier — FAA Part 135 in the US or the equivalent AOC abroad — and every aircraft in the catalog names the operator behind it, with contact details. You reach them directly, so the answers to all three questions above come from the certificate holder itself. Browse popular routes or aircraft types to see how aircraft and operators are presented.