FAA Part 135 and Part 119: Commuter and On-Demand Operations

14 CFR Part 135 is the FAA rule book for the smaller end of commercial air transport in the United States: charter and air taxi flights, helicopter air ambulances, small cargo flights and scheduled commuter services in small airplanes. Which operators fly under it is decided by Part 119, the certification part, which sorts every carriage of persons or property for compensation or hire into a kind of operation and assigns each kind its operating rules. Like Part 121, Part 135 adds to the general operating rules of Part 91 rather than replacing them.

Part 135 matters to pilots twice over. It is where many US pilots fly their first paid passenger and cargo flights, in a Caravan, a King Air or a piston twin, building the experience airlines look for, and pilot in command time in some Part 135 operations counts toward the 1,000 hours of air carrier experience that a Part 121 captain needs under 121.436. Its principles are also tested on the FAA commercial pilot and airline transport pilot knowledge tests. In Europe the same flights are commercial air transport under Part-CAT, flown under an air operator certificate issued under Part-ORO (see air operator certification).

Part 119: who needs a certificate

Part 119 applies to anyone who operates civil aircraft as an air carrier or as a commercial operator. Its central distinction is between being paid to fly and selling air transportation. An FAA commercial pilot certificate allows its holder to be paid to fly, for a certificate holder or for a Part 91 operator, but it does not make the pilot an air carrier. A person who furnishes both the aircraft and the pilot to a customer for payment is operating an air transportation service and needs a certificate, whatever licenses the pilot holds. A commercial pilot who rents a Cessna 182 and accepts $500 to fly two people from Dallas to Houston is flying a charter that needs a Part 135 certificate.

Part 119 issues two kinds of certificate:

• Air carrier certificate. For an operator in common carriage, which AC 120-12A breaks into four elements: holding out to the public, to transport persons or property, from place to place, for compensation.
• Operating certificate. For an operator that carries persons or property for compensation or hire without being an air carrier, for example in private carriage for one or a few selected customers under individual contracts.

Holding out, by advertising, a booking agent, a website or simply a reputation for taking all comers, is what turns private carriage into common carriage (see commercial and private operations).

Once certificated, the operator is the certificate holder and receives operations specifications (OpSpecs), which list its aircraft, kinds of operation, areas and special authorizations, such as C079, the Part 135 paragraph for lower-than-standard takeoff minimums. A Part 135 operator must employ at least a Director of Operations, a Chief Pilot and a Director of Maintenance; Part 121 adds a Director of Safety and a Chief Inspector. A final rule of 26 April 2024 extended the safety management system requirements of Part 5 to Part 135 operators, and those already operating then must have their SMS in place by 28 May 2027.

Operations exempt under 119.1(e)

Section 119.1(e) lists operations that need neither certificate although money changes hands, unless they are flown in private carriage with an airplane of 20 or more passenger seats or a payload capacity of 6,000 lb or more. Among them:

• student instruction;
• nonstop commercial air tours that begin and end at the same airport and stay within 25 statute miles of it, flown under a letter of authorization of 91.147, with the safety rules of Part 136, Subpart A, and a drug and alcohol testing program;
• ferry and training flights;
• aerial work such as crop dusting, banner towing, aerial photography and survey, and firefighting;
• nonstop flights within 25 statute miles of the departure airport carrying parachutists for intentional jumps.

These flights are flown under Part 91, or Part 137 for agricultural work. A pilot paid to fly them needs at least a commercial certificate, and some operations need a waiver as well: banner towing, for example, needs a certificate of waiver under 91.311.

Other flying stays outside Part 119 because no transportation is sold. A company that carries its own employees and goods in its own airplane, where the transport is incidental to its business, operates under Part 91 and may hire commercial pilots to fly it. Fractional ownership programs fly under Part 91 Subpart K. A private pilot may share the costs of a flight only within 61.113, paying at least a pro rata share.

Commuter versus on-demand operations

The kinds of operation are defined in 14 CFR 110.2, and Part 119 gives each its operating part: domestic, flag and supplemental operations go to Part 121 (see FAA Part 121), commuter and on-demand operations to Part 135. The tests are whether the flights are scheduled, how often, the number of passenger seats, the payload capacity and, for scheduled passenger flights, whether the airplane is a turbojet.

A commuter operation is a scheduled operation with at least five round trips a week on at least one route between two or more points, according to the published flight schedules. It is flown in rotorcraft, or in airplanes other than turbojets with a maximum of 9 passenger seats, excluding crewmember seats, and a maximum payload capacity of 7,500 lb. (The definitions treat powered-lift aircraft like airplanes.)

An on-demand operation is any of the following, flown for compensation or hire:

• passenger flights whose departure time, departure location and arrival location are negotiated with the customer, public charters under Part 380 included, in common carriage with airplanes, turbojets included, of 30 passenger seats or fewer and a payload capacity of 7,500 lb or less; in private carriage with airplanes of fewer than 20 seats and less than 6,000 lb payload; or in any rotorcraft;
• scheduled passenger flights at fewer than five round trips a week, in rotorcraft or in airplanes other than turbojets with no more than 9 passenger seats and a payload capacity of 7,500 lb or less;
• all-cargo flights in airplanes with a payload capacity of 7,500 lb or less, or in rotorcraft.

Private carriage in airplanes with 20 or more passenger seats or a payload capacity of 6,000 lb or more comes under Part 125, not Part 135 (119.23).

Part 135 pilot experience and checks

Section 135.243 sets the certificates and flight experience a pilot in command must hold. Because the flights are flown for compensation or hire, a private certificate is never enough: 61.113 does not allow a private pilot to act as pilot in command of an aircraft carrying passengers or property for compensation or hire. One requirement surprises many applicants: a Part 135 airplane pilot in command needs an instrument rating even to fly in clear weather under VFR, while a helicopter pilot in command needs a helicopter instrument rating only to fly VFR over-the-top. The operations listed in 135.243(a)(1) also matter for an airline career, because under 121.436 pilot in command time in them, or in eligible on-demand operations, counts toward the 1,000 hours of air carrier experience a Part 121 captain needs. Other Part 135 time does not.

The rest of the crew is set by Subpart B: the composition of the flight crew, when a second in command is required and when an approved autopilot may replace one, and the flight attendant (135.99 to 135.107). Subpart E adds operating experience (135.244) and the rules in the table below.

Certificates are only the entry ticket. Subpart G keeps each pilot under a checking program that Part 91 does not have: tests, instrument proficiency checks and line checks (135.293 to 135.299), with grace provisions for their timing (135.301).

The main figures:

Part 135 also requires crew resource management training (135.330) and hazardous materials training (135.501). Flight crews are in the drug and alcohol testing program of Part 120, and the operator reports training and qualification records to the Pilot Records Database of Part 111. Flight time and rest limits come from Part 135's own rules, not from Part 117, and the sterile flight deck rule of 121.542 is applied to Part 135 by 135.100 (see flight time limitations).

Weather, fuel and alternates under Part 135

Part 135 starts from Part 91 and tightens it in Subpart D, VFR/IFR operating limitations and weather requirements. Under VFR it has its own minimum altitudes and visibility requirements (135.203 and 135.205) and its own fuel supply rule (135.209): an airplane must be able to reach the first point of intended landing and then fly for 30 minutes by day or 45 minutes at night at normal cruising consumption, a helicopter for 20 minutes. A flight carrying passengers may go VFR over-the-top only if the forecast at the end of the over-the-top segment allows a descent under VFR or an IFR approach and landing, or if the aircraft could descend under VFR after an engine failure (135.211).

Under IFR, Subpart D sets out in turn the use of weather reports and forecasts (135.213), takeoff limitations (135.217), destination airport weather minimums (135.219), alternate airport weather minimums (135.221) and the alternate airport requirements (135.223). Together they decide whether an IFR flight may leave and which alternate it needs. A takeoff from an airport whose weather is at or above takeoff minimums but below landing minimums needs an alternate within 1 hour's flying time at normal cruising speed in still air (135.217). In IFR conditions the aircraft carries fuel to the destination, then to the alternate, then for 45 minutes at normal cruising speed, 30 minutes for a helicopter (135.223). The alternate leg may be left out if the destination has a standard instrument approach and, from 1 hour before to 1 hour after the estimated arrival, the forecast ceiling is at least 1,500 ft above the lowest circling MDA and the visibility at least 3 miles, or 2 miles more than the lowest minimum, whichever is greater (135.223(b)).

On arrival, 135.225 imposes an approach ban that Part 91 lacks. A pilot may not begin an instrument approach unless the airport has an approved weather reporting facility and its latest report shows conditions at or above the authorized IFR landing minimums (an eligible on-demand operator may use the alternate's report under 135.225(b)), nor begin the final approach segment unless the latest report is at or above the minimums for that procedure. A later report below minimums, received once the aircraft has passed the final approach fix (or, on an ASR or PAR approach, been handed to the final controller), does not force a go-around: the approach may be continued, and the landing made if the pilot finds the actual weather at or above minimums on reaching the DA or MDA. Where an airport publishes no takeoff minimums, the standard minimums of 91.175(f), 1 statute mile for airplanes with two engines or fewer and ½ mile for those with more and for helicopters, bind Part 135 operators, with lower values available through OpSpec C079 (see aerodrome operating minima).

Two other rules mark the difference from private flying. A single-engine airplane may carry passengers under IFR only with additional electrical power sources (135.163) and an engine trend monitoring program (135.421). And 135.227 no longer allows a takeoff with polished frost on the airplane: that allowance was removed from it, as from 91.527 and 125.221, with effect from 1 February 2010, so frost is removed before departure (see airframe icing).

Part 91, 135 and 121 compared

In short, a Part 135 pilot in command works to tighter weather rules than a private pilot, under a checking program and the company's operational control (see operational control and flight dispatch), but without an airline's dispatcher or experience minimums. The step to Part 121 adds an ATP and a type rating for every pilot and 1,000 hours of air carrier experience for the captain.

Library articles are written for study and exam preparation. They do not replace your aircraft's approved documentation, your operator's procedures or the regulations themselves.