Western Air Charter, doing business as Jet Edge (EDG, Van Nuys), has been allowed to commence interstate and foreign charter flights, following its Show Cause approval by the US Department of Transportation (DOT) on February 25. The operator applied for its certificate of public convenience and necessity in September last year.
The carrier was incorporated in California in November 2006, with its principal base of operations in Scottsdale, Arizona, and maintains an Operations Control Center and a Maintenance Control Center at its corporate office in Van Nuys, California. It is a registered air taxi operator with a fleet of 48 small (less than 60 seats or a maximum payload capacity of no more than 18,000 pounds - 8,165kg) aircraft.
Following its successful certification, the company intends to operate large aircraft (greater than 60 seats or more than 18,000 pounds - 8,165kg), in particular two B737-700(BBJ1)s configured for 16 passenger seats. The BBJ1s that the carrier plans to operate are those that it currently manages for Jet Force. It will lease the aircraft directly from Jet Force on an ad-hoc basis, with Jet Force receiving 90% of the revenue generated from the charter flights. Western’s anticipated geographic areas of operations are the Continental US, Hawaii, Mexico, Asia, Europe, and the Middle East.
Jet Edge manages and operates a fleet of aircraft on behalf of individual owners, including Gulfstream IV, G450, Gulfstream V, GVI-G650, Gulfstream G200, Gulfstream G280, Falcon 2000, Falcon 900, Challenger 600s, Global Express, Legacy 600, and Legacy 650 types.
