Scheduled Part 135 charter operator JSX has become the target of an alliance of pilot and transport worker unions bent on stopping regional airline SkyWest from establishing its own Part 135 operation. In a letter to Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, the AFL-CIO’s Transportation Trades Department (TTD) charged SkyWest with attempting to skirt Part 121 pilot flight time and retirement age requirements as part of a plan that it says mirrors JSX’s business model. TTD calls that business model “an end run” around the FAA’s effort to hold scheduled Part 135 carriers to “one level of safety.”
The FAA’s alternative Essential Air Service (EAS) program allows charter flights where the agency deems regularly scheduled service under the long-established EAS program infeasible. “It is quite another proposition, however, to run a massive number of regularly scheduled operations in the same markets already well served by airlines, using lower safety and security standards as a competitive advantage,” read the letter. According to TTD, JSX operated 56,326 flights last year.
JSX flights depart from FBO facilities and use the TSA’s Secure Flight pre-screening program, which allows passengers to bypass “invasive” security screening at airport terminals. “JSX’s evasion of these standards has inspired others to attempt a similar model, degrading the safety and security of air travel while also distorting competition, increasing aviation emissions, and worsening airspace congestion,” said TTD.