How ASA Selects Charter Operators

ASA is a broker: we do not own, maintain or operate any aircraft. Every flight we arrange is flown by a third-party operator. This page sets out exactly what we require from that operator before we put them in front of you.

Why This Matters When You Charter Through a Broker

The ASA Group and its subsidiaries act solely as air charter brokers and do not own, maintain or operate any aircraft. Every flight ASA arranges is flown by a third-party operator that holds its own certification and carries legal responsibility for the flight.

That structure is what allows a broker to match the right aircraft to the mission instead of fitting the mission to one fleet. It also means the question that matters is not what aircraft we own — it is what we check before we propose an operator.

The Documents We Require Before Proposing an Operator

Air Operator Certificate (AOC) — must be in date

An AOC is the official approval issued by a country’s civil aviation authority that permits an airline or company to run commercial flights carrying passengers or cargo. It is the licence to operate commercially, and it is issued only after the authority has assessed the operator against its safety, maintenance, training and operational standards.

ASA verifies that an operator’s AOC is current and in date before that operator is put forward for a mission. An expired or lapsed certificate means the operator is not proposed. This is the first check, and it is not negotiable.

Certificate of Insurance (COI) — checked against the specific mission

A Certificate of Insurance verifies that an aircraft is fully covered financially for the mission being flown. ASA requires a current COI as part of the same document set as the AOC.

The detail that matters is the phrase “for the specified mission”. Cover is written against particular uses, territories and circumstances. A certificate that is valid in principle is not the same as a certificate that covers the flight you are about to take. ASA checks the COI against the mission in front of it, not in the abstract.

AOC Operations Specifications — for helicopter missions

For helicopter work, ASA additionally checks the AOC Operations Specifications. These state which categories of aerial mission the operator is actually approved for.

This matters because helicopter operations vary far more widely than fixed-wing charter. An operator approved for passenger transfers is not automatically approved for offshore work, hoist operations, external load, survey flights or night operations. The Operations Specifications are where those approvals are recorded, and ASA reads them against the mission being requested rather than assuming a valid AOC covers everything a client might ask for.

FAOC / FOP — where the routing requires it

Where a mission requires it, ASA also checks the validity of the operator’s FAOC or FOP. These are the approvals that permit a foreign operator to land or take off in a specified country.

A foreign-registered aircraft cannot simply operate commercially into any state on the strength of its home-country AOC. Some states require a separate foreign operator approval, and that approval is country-specific and time-limited. On a routing that crosses several jurisdictions, the operator has to hold the right approval for each one — a check made against the actual itinerary, not against the operator in general.

The Check, Summarised

What Certification Does and Does Not Settle

An in-date AOC establishes that a national civil aviation authority has assessed the operator and approved it to fly commercially. That is a substantial bar and it is the same framework that governs scheduled airlines.

What it does not do on its own is tell you whether the operator is approved for your particular mission, or whether the aircraft is insured for it, or whether the operator may legally work in the countries on your routing. Those are three separate documents and three separate checks, and they are the reason the list above has four items rather than one.

Asking to see this document set is a reasonable thing for any charter client to do, and ASA expects the question. If you are comparing quotes from more than one source, it is worth asking each of them the same thing.

Where Vetting Sits in Arranging a Charter

Operator documentation is checked before an aircraft is proposed — not after you have chosen it. The sequence is: you tell us the mission, we identify operators with suitable aircraft, we verify the document set for those operators against that mission, and only then do you receive options to choose from.

The practical effect is that every aircraft on your quote has already cleared the check. You are choosing between aircraft, not between levels of assurance.

The wider process is explained in our guide to how private air charter works, from enquiry to take-off.

Who Sets the Standard at ASA

ASA Air Charter was founded in 1999 by Simon P. Wagstaff BEM MIExpE, who spent eighteen years in the British Army as a Senior Rank Bomb Disposal Engineer with the Commando Brigade before building ASA from a single-person operation into a group with offices in Hong Kong, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore and the Philippines.

ASA arranges flights at over 1,000 airports across Southeast Asia and provides its own ground handling — so the operator check, the permits and the handling all sit with one company.

Operator Selection — Frequently Asked Questions