Air charter is the business of renting an entire aircraft (i.e., chartering ) as opposed to individual aircraft seats (i.e., purchasing a ticket through a traditional airline ).
7-604: Northern Thunderbird Air Inc or NT Air is a Canadian charter airline and medevac service based in Prince George, British Columbia . NT Air was formed in 1971 with the amalgamation of two of northern British Columbia's airlines: Northern Mountain Airlines and Thunderbird Airlines. Northern Mountain Airlines began operations at Fort St. James in 1959. By 1971, they were one of the larger airlines in British Columbia. With
14-672: A hangar on the Prince George Airport to fulfill this contract was the catalyst for the merger talks that resulted in the formation of Northern Thunderbird Air in 1971. Since its inception, Northern Thunderbird Air has adapted with the times and economic cycles with a fleet of 18 aircraft, three bases, 21 scheduled points and over 100 employees. Northern Thunderbird Air is the sister airline of Central Mountain Air , utilizing their large aircraft capability and bases in British Columbia and Alberta. As of January 2024, Northern Thunderbird Air has
21-431: A mixed fleet of Cessnas , DHC-2 Beavers , Beech 18s , Grumman Goose , and helicopters; Northern Mountain served Northern Canada including Alberta , Yukon and Northwest Territories . By spinning off its airplane division to merge with Thunderbird in 1971, Northern Mountain was able to concentrate its efforts on helicopters only and did so through 2000. Thunderbird Airlines started in the early 1960s when it acquired
28-639: A non-scheduled service. Analogous regulations generally also apply to air ambulance and cargo operators, which are often also ad hoc for-hire services. In the United States, these flights are regulated under FAA Part 135. There are some cases where a charter operator can sell scheduled flights, but only in limited quantities. As of 2021, the FAA had made it a priority to crack down on unauthorised charter flights, according to industry experts. There are several business models which offer air charter services from
35-558: The bush operations of Pacific Western Airlines in Prince George. From its base at Tabor Lake, Thunderbird operated Cessnas, Beavers and DHC Otters on floats and skis servicing the new town of Mackenzie and the northern villages and logging camps of Williston Lake . In the early 1970s, Thunderbird secured a subcontract from Pacific Western Airlines to service the smaller communities of B.C. to feed that traffic into PWA's jet aircraft at Prince George, Kamloops and Kelowna . The need for
42-501: The following aircraft registered with Transport Canada : The Northern Thunderbird Beechcraft 1900D's bear the NTA paint scheme and logo but are dual registered with sister company Central Mountain Air. Charter airline Charter – also called air taxi or ad hoc – flights require certification from the associated country's civil aviation authority . The regulations are differentiated from typical commercial/passenger service by offering
49-564: The traditional charter operator to brokers and jet card programs: Charter aircraft categories include: There are an estimated 15,000 business jets available for charter in the world. The US market is the largest, followed by the European market with growing activity in the Middle East, Asia, and Central America. Some charter airlines have employed other types of jets, including Airbus , Boeing , and McDonnell Douglas mainline airliners such as
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