- Mission definition precedes aircraft selection: payload, stage length, runway, passenger profile and schedule tolerance.
- Published range figures are marketing figures; plan against realistic payload-range with reserves and expected winds.
- Cabin category is a comfort decision; runway and payload-range are safety and feasibility decisions. Never trade the second for the first.
- Record the reasoning behind every recommendation — it is the difference between advice and order-taking.
Defining the mission
A charter request arrives as a route and a passenger count. That is not a mission. A mission is the full set of constraints the flight must satisfy: how many passengers with how much baggage, from which specific airport to which specific airport, on what date and time, with what tolerance for a technical stop, and with what expectations about cabin, catering and connectivity.
The discipline of the professional broker is to complete that picture before looking at availability. Brokers who begin with the aircraft that happens to be free in the region end up writing justifications rather than recommendations, and those justifications tend to fail on the day the weather is marginal or the baggage arrives heavier than declared.
Payload, range and reserves
Every aircraft type has a published maximum range and a published maximum payload, and almost no aircraft can deliver both simultaneously. The trade is governed by the payload-range curve: as you add passengers, baggage and cabin load, the fuel you can carry falls, and with it the distance the aircraft can fly. A light jet advertised at four hours of range may deliver appreciably less with a full cabin, winter winds and an alternate airport several hundred miles from destination.
Only the operator can compute the real answer, because only the operator knows the tail's actual empty weight, its equipment fit and its performance data. The broker's responsibility is to ask the question explicitly, in writing, for the specific tail being offered — not to accept a category-level assurance that the type 'does that route non-stop'.
Fuel reserves are not optional padding. Regulatory reserves, contingency fuel and a realistic alternate must be inside the plan before the flight is presented as non-stop. A quotation that becomes a technical stop on the day is a commercial failure and, more importantly, a trust failure.
- Ask for payload-range confirmation on the specific registration, not the type.
- State baggage in weight and dimensions, not in suitcase counts.
- Confirm whether the quoted route assumes seasonal winds or a still-air plan.
- Ask which alternate the operator intends to plan and whether it changes the fuel load.
Airport and runway constraints
Runway length is the constraint clients understand, but it is rarely the only one. Runway width, surface strength, elevation and temperature, obstacle clearance on the departure path, available approach aids, hours of operation, customs availability and rescue-and-firefighting category can each rule out an otherwise suitable aircraft.
High-elevation and hot-and-high airports deserve special caution: performance degrades with density altitude, and an aircraft that operates comfortably from a sea-level runway of the same length may be payload-limited or unable to depart at all in mid-afternoon heat.
Where the client insists on a constrained field, the professional response is to price and present both the constrained option and the nearest realistic alternative, with the trade explicit: ground transfer time against operational margin.
Cabin, crew and passenger experience
Once feasibility is settled, cabin selection is a comfort and suitability judgement: cabin height and length for the stage time, lavatory arrangement, baggage access in flight, cabin crew presence, connectivity, and whether the interior configuration actually seats the declared passenger count in usable seats rather than certified ones.
Long sectors change the calculus. A cabin acceptable for ninety minutes becomes punishing at six hours, and the absence of a cabin attendant on a long international leg is a service decision the client should make knowingly rather than discover in the air.
Presenting options honestly
Present a small number of genuinely different options — typically two or three — each with its trade stated in one line. Long lists of near-identical aircraft transfer the analytical burden back to the client and disguise the fact that no analysis was performed.
Where an option is cheaper because it carries a real operational compromise — a technical stop, an older cabin, a departure slot outside the requested window, an operator without the safety history of the alternatives — say so in the quotation itself. Compromises discovered later are perceived as concealment, whether or not concealment was intended.
Documenting the decision
Keep a short written record for every engagement: the mission constraints as stated by the client, the options considered, the reason the recommended option was recommended, and any operator confirmation relied upon. Three sentences and two emails are usually enough.
That record is what allows a brokerage to demonstrate, months later, that a recommendation was reasoned rather than convenient. It is also, in practice, the fastest way to resolve a dispute in the broker's favour when the client's recollection of the brief has drifted.
Practical checklists
- Passenger count, baggage weight and any oversized items confirmed in writing.
- Specific departure and arrival airports agreed, not just cities.
- Payload-range confirmed by the operator for the offered registration.
- Airport suitability, hours and customs confirmed for both ends.
- Technical stops, if any, disclosed in the quotation text.
Frequently asked questions
- Can I rely on published range figures from manufacturer brochures?
- No. Brochure range is typically quoted at a reduced passenger load in still air with optimum cruise. Use it to shortlist types, never to promise a non-stop sector.
- Who decides whether an aircraft can use a particular runway?
- The operator, using its own performance data and approvals. The broker's role is to raise the question early and record the answer.
- • Define the mission before considering availability.
- • Payload-range is tail-specific; get it in writing from the operator.
- • Airport suitability is an operator determination, never a broker assurance.
- • Present few, genuinely different options with trades stated plainly.