The Department of Transportation is planning to issue a notice of proposed
rulemaking later this year covering the activities of air charter brokers, according to NBAA. “Over the past years, NBAA has urged the DOT to take regulatory action to further clarify the role of the air charter broker and codify an indirect air carrier status for air charter brokers.” The DOT has been promising to take action against charter brokers for many years, but this would be the first rulemaking to address the issue. In 2004 the DOT issued a notice to the industry, warning that it planned to enforce regulations that it believed were being violated. “The purpose of this notice,” the DOT wrote, “is to provide guidance regarding the lawful role of air charter brokers (i.e., entities, including persons, that link prospective charter customers with direct air carriers) in the provision of air transportation.”