A tiered membership program with published obligations, not a paid badge.

GCBA membership is deliberately structured as a ladder rather than a subscription. A Registered Broker listing is free and confirms only that a company exists, operates as a charter broker and has accepted the Code of Professional Conduct. It is the baseline any credible directory should provide.

Professional Member adds a verification review of the company's public information — trading name, jurisdiction of establishment, principals, service coverage and stated specialisations — against publicly available sources. A Professional badge is visible on the directory profile and can be revoked if the underlying information changes.

Certified Broker is the deeper tier. A Certified profile requires documented operator due-diligence procedures, a written charter agreement template, a client-funds handling policy and a designated point of contact for complaints. Certification is not a safety rating and does not certify aircraft or operators; it certifies that the brokerage itself operates against the GCBA framework.

Corporate Partner membership is designed for organisations that support the brokerage ecosystem without themselves being charter brokers: aircraft operators, aviation lawyers, insurers, payment providers, aviation-safety specialists and technology vendors. Partners appear in a separate directory, participate in relevant working groups and can sponsor research or events under a published disclosure. Partners cannot vote on standards adoption.

Founding Member recognition is available, by nomination, to a limited number of early participants who contribute substantively to the Association's first standards, working groups or governance. Founding status is honorific and does not confer additional voting rights or preferential directory placement beyond the tier the member also holds.

Every tier carries obligations. Members undertake to keep their public information accurate, to update material changes within a reasonable period, to cooperate with any correction request routed through the Association and to accept the complaints process set out in the Code of Professional Conduct. Serious or repeated breach results in tier downgrade or removal — a step the Association has published procedures to apply and to publish when it applies them.