Story ID: 
Aircraft Charter Broker Regulations Pushed
By: Jennifer Harrington
Caption: Recent enforcement actions against charter brokers using “unfair or deceptive” business practices have come under scrutiny, and some organizations are now 
Word Count: 195
Recent enforcement actions against charter brokers using “unfair or deceptive” business practices have come under scrutiny, and some organizations are now pressing for government regulation. “The one industry that is not regulated is brokers,” Sentient Flight Group vice president of aircraft management Gil Wolin said this week at the Corporate Aircraft Transactions Conference in New York City. “The DOT has completely ignored them. I find it disturbing.” Aaron Goerlich, a partner at law firm Garofalo, Goerlich and Hainbach, said the DOT did issue a “fairly good” policy statement in 2004 that outlines acceptable broker practices, but the only regulation to date is 49 U.S.C § 41712, which prohibits deceptive business practices. Last week at the NATA Air Charter Summit in Chantilly, Va., Dayton Lehman, deputy assistant general counsel of the DOT’s office of aviation enforcement and proceedings, said rulemaking on brokers is still pending. “Brokers have been deceiving the public,” he said. “We just have to chat with some of these folks to get them to change their practices.” In the past year or so, the DOT has assessed fines to four charter brokers: Jet One Jets, Private Jet Services Group, OneSky Network and Imperial Jets.