JSX Air (XE, Dallas Love Field) has come out swinging against what it calls "outrageously inaccurate and highly irresponsible allegations" by American Airlines (AA, Dallas/Fort Worth) and the Air Line Pilots Association, International (ALPA) that it is exploiting a public charter loophole by flying a scheduled charter service with 30-seat jets under Part 135 conditions.
The point-to-point "hop-on" jet service provided by JSX Air has been caught in the cross-fire between American Airlines, a lobby group of unions representing pilots, cabin crew, machinists and air traffic controllers on the one side, and SkyWest Airlines (OO, St. George Municipal), on the other. The lobbyists are trying to stop SkyWest from shifting its essential air services (EAS) to its new charter subsidiary SkyWest Charter (SWC) operating with retrofitted 30-seater CRJ200s. The move is SkyWest's solution to the current US pilot shortage hamstringing regional carriers as the charter carrier can circumvent a 1,500 flight hour rule for an airline pilot certificate/first officer qualification. However, American and ALPA argue SkyWest's move will reverse US regulations on safety and security - and have painted JSX Air with the same broad brush.
In a regulatory filing to the Department of Transportation (DOT), JSX Air Chief Executive Officer Alex Wilcox accuses American and ALPA of waging a "cynical" and "political campaign to outlaw JSX". He accuses the parties of abusing the SWC docket "as a forum in which to advocate for unprecedented and wholly unjustifiable governmental action to do nothing less than put JSX and other innovative and reliable Part 380 operators out of business and leave many small communities nationwide without air service".
"They refer to JSX's 'scheduled charter service,' suggesting that JSX's public charters are really scheduled services and should be regulated as such under Part 121. In fact, no such 'loophole' exists. JSX complies fully with all applicable DOT, FAA, [Federal Aviation Administration], and TSA [Transportation Security Administration] requirements."
"American and ALPA absurdly accuse JSX of 'degrad[ing] our nation's aviation system' based on the wholly-unfounded allegation that JSX's operations raise safety and security 'concerns'. This attack is an insult not only to JSX but also to the FAA and TSA – agencies whose mission is to ensure that all commercial air carriers (regardless of the form of FAA certificate they hold or their TSA-approved security programme) comply with all applicable safety and security requirements," Wilcox states.
"JSX and similar Part 135 operators provide one of the most effective and relevant means for first officers to achieve their 1,500 flight hour requirement to join Part 121 airlines, thereby alleviating a significant shortfall in the availability of qualified pilots," he adds.
He also points out that public charter regulations have existed for 45 years. "The longstanding policy objective behind those regulations is to promote a broader diversity of air service options for US consumers in a liberalised marketplace, with a regulatory focus on consumer protection. JSX exemplifies how the marketplace harnesses the public charter sector's potential to offer new service options for consumers and communities and a modest scale of competition for American and other entrenched incumbent airlines."
Wilcox points out the irony that AA - with a fleet of 998 aircraft, one of the world's biggest airlines - would argue that it faces unfair competition from JSX, which operates forty-seven 30-seater E135s and E145s.
"American and ALPA's irresponsible scaremongering about aviation safety and security 'concerns' are beyond the pale. It is particularly egregious that American would resort to safety/security demagoguery in an effort to crush an innovative but much smaller competitor in Washington rather than confront it in the US air transportation marketplace. JSX cannot match American's and ALPA's lobbying resources and influence. JSX customers and crewmembers trust that the Biden administration, DOT, FAA, TSA, and Congress will afford JSX a fair hearing, keep an open mind, and not capitulate to American's and ALPA's political pressure to effectively put JSX and other Part 380 operators out of business," he states.
Launched in 2016, JSX Air now services 43 non-stop routes, often to smaller, under-utilised airports where Part 121 airlines cannot operate. It employs about 1,000 people and participates in United Airlines' and JetBlue Airways's pilot training programmes through which its pilots have a preferred pathway to a career with either airline. Wilcox says the average experience of a JSX pilot is 8,466 hours for captains and 3,747 hours for first officers.
