The price is the argument

A broker, not an operator

AviationHS is an air charter broker as defined in 14 CFR Part 295. It does not own, operate or control aircraft. All flights are performed by air carriers holding FAA Part 135 certificates. Prices shown are non-binding estimates computed from published performance data and indicative market rates; they do not constitute an offer of air transportation until confirmed in writing by the operating carrier.

The distinction matters to you, not just to the regulator. A broker can put the right aircraft on your trip from any certificated operator in the country. An operator can only sell you what is in its own hangar — which is why an operator will always tell you its aircraft is the right one for your trip.

Where the numbers come from

Airport positions, elevations and runway lengths are from OurAirports, which is public domain, cross-checked against FAA data. Aircraft range, cruise speed, wingspan and balanced field length are the manufacturers' published figures. Published field limitations — wingspan caps, curfews, slot rules — come from each airport authority.

Hourly rates are indicative market rates, not quotes from a specific operator. This is the honest limit of what a static page can know: the real number depends on which aircraft is positioned near your departure field on your date, and no amount of arithmetic substitutes for asking. Every price here is stated as a range for that reason, and it is labelled an estimate everywhere it appears.

What the estimate covers

Block time at the aircraft's published cruise, plus taxi, climb and descent; a routing allowance over the great-circle distance, because no flight is flown as the crow flies; repositioning the aircraft to your departure field; landing and handling at both ends; the daily minimum the operator will not release the aircraft below; the federal excise tax and the per-passenger segment fee.

It does not cover de-icing, overnight crew costs on a trip that was not priced as a round trip, catering beyond the standard, in-flight connectivity, waiting time, or the surcharge every operator applies over a holiday weekend. Those are real and they are not guessable, so they are not guessed.

Runway before range

The filter most charter sites skip is the one that actually decides your trip. A Global 7500 cannot use Aspen — not because it lacks the legs, but because its 104 ft wingspan exceeds the published limit there. An aircraft that cannot legally use the field at either end is excluded from the quote and the reason is printed next to it, rather than being quietly dropped.

What HS stands for

Hangar sourcing. The aircraft that suits your trip is almost never the one a single operator happens to own — it is sitting in someone else's hangar, two states away, with a return leg already booked. Knowing whose hangar, and what it is doing next week, is the entire job. That is what the name says.

About this domain

Before we registered it, aviationhs.org belonged to Raisbeck Aviation High School, a public school in the Highline Public Schools district near Seattle. The school moved to its district address and let this domain lapse; we registered it afterwards, in the ordinary way, because the name fits an aviation business.

We are not that school, we are not affiliated with it, and we do not offer education of any kind. If you are looking for the school, follow the link above — it is the only place with its admissions, staff and course information. We say this here rather than leaving it to be worked out, because a visitor who arrives expecting a school and finds a charter broker deserves a straight answer about why.

Status

The engine, the data and the method are live and can be checked today. The trading entity, its US DOT broker registration and its operator contracts are being put in place; until they are, requests are received but cannot be turned into bookings, and nothing on this site is an offer of air transportation.