FAA Alleges Illegal Ops by Aircraft Management Provider

The FAA has proposed a $260,868 civil penalty against Long Island, New York-based aircraft management provider ExcelAire, claiming it conducted unauthorized air charter operations.

According to the agency, the company operated two flights for compensation or hire in August 2025, two months after its director of operations surrendered the company’s air carrier certificate to the FAA. That person, and the remainder of the company’s required management personnel, also resigned in June 2025.

Additionally, the FAA alleges that ExcelAire lacks the required qualified management personnel to ensure the safety of its operations. “The conduct of ExcelAire demonstrates a disregard for the safety of the flying public, and its actions were careless or reckless so as to endanger the lives and property of others,” the agency noted in its complaint.

Fellow Long Island aviation services provider Executive Fliteways had purchased the company in 2023, mainly to acquire its Part 145 repair station, and it subsequently sold the remainder of ExcelAire—including its charter certificate—in September 2024 to Sky Elite Holdings, a Bronx, New York-based limited liability company. Its current ownership remains unclear; calls eventually went to the voicemail of Empyreal Jets, a Houston-based charter broker, when AIN approached the company to comment on the FAA’s proposed action.

ExcelAire has 30 days after receipt of the notice to respond to the FAA’s allegations.