One airline is offering the private jet experience at business class prices – and it’s winning them plenty of enemies in the industry.
JSX, a Dallas-based carrier, took advantage of a loophole in US Federal Aviation Administration regulations that would have allowed the company to sell single-seat tickets on scheduled charter flights at affordable prices and much faster security checks.
“I spent months without sleep, just looking at all the rules, looking for ways why this couldn’t be done,” co-founder Alex Wilcox told Bloomberg.
Although charter planes are not subject to the same strict safety and security requirements as passenger jets with more than nine seats, FAA rules do not allow them to list flight times or cities or sell single tickets.
To overcome the strict rules, the entrepreneur creates two companies that will work together: one makes the flight schedule and sells tickets, while the second flies the plane on certain routes at certain times and dates.
The pass also allows JSX to sell tickets at a much lower price than private jet competitors.
“Every single person we talked to said, ‘No, you can’t do that,'” Wilcox recalled. “So we did.”
The JSX has won the love and adoration of frequent travelers, who can enjoy the luxury of skipping long Transportation Security Administration baggage check lines instead of bag swabs and gun detectors.
The extra free time allows travelers the chance to spend more time in the cities they’re exploring or attend extra meetings during a business trip, Bloomberg reported.
However, this loophole is what JSX’s competitors are targeting, claiming the company’s practices are unsafe.
“If you’re going to be a scheduled carrier, whoever you are, follow the rules of a scheduled carrier,” Southwest CEO Bob Jordan said in an interview with Bloomberg. “We have decades of evidence that accidents have significantly decreased and safety has significantly improved. Just follow this standard.
Doug Parker, former chairman and CEO of American Airlines, told the publication that carriers like JSX should strengthen their anti-terrorism rules and be required to comply with post-9/11 standards, such as scanning photo IDs. limiting liquids on board and removing shoes during screenings.
“This is a natural disaster waiting to happen,” he said. “We know terrorists have their eyes on commercial aviation, and we’re giving them a perfect opportunity.”
Complaints from competitors and JSX’s growing success could lead to federal changes that could derail the company’s innovative business model.
The FAA revised its rules for public charter carriers like JSX that came “in light of recent high-volume operations” that “appear to be presented to the public as essentially indistinguishable from” commercial carriers. The “size, scope, frequency and complexity” of public charter operations like JSX “have grown significantly over the past 10 years,” the agency wrote in an August filing.
Members of Congress and some pilot unions also pushed for tighter security measures, but JSX hired a lobbyist in Washington to defend its position.
“When someone points a gun at you, you tend to hire bodyguards,” Wilcox said.
