A look at the routes into a career as a charter pilot

Charter pilots fly individual customers to specific destinations. They do not fly large aircraft into major airports with hundreds of passengers aboard. The requirements for becoming a commercial pilot still apply, but charter work brings extra considerations.

There are several ways into the role. One common path is flying for a charter company, a commercial operator that sells seats or blocks of flight time per year on private jets and hires pilots to fly its aircraft. Some of these operators, among them well-known names such as NetJets and Flexjet, look for as much flight experience as large commercial airlines do. Time built as a flight instructor or on pipeline patrol, and possibly a spell at a regional airline, carries weight with them much as it does for career airline pilots.

The passenger mix can vary widely. A charter pilot may fly a one-off customer who needs an aircraft for a single flight or a defined trip, or regular clients who have bought a fractional share of an aircraft for long-term use.

Some pilots work for hybrid companies that fly routinely for a single client. Those companies may charter out their aircraft when it is not needed for an extended period. Pilots in that arrangement get the stability of flying one aircraft, or a small number of the same type, for a familiar customer, alongside the variety a charter operation brings.

Others work as full-time contract pilots, a group the source goes on to describe.