By Brenton Melville | Business Development Manager, APAC
CJI Asia, 2025
Illegal charter is hardly a new topic within business aviation. And in the APAC region, it remains a hot topic as one of the region’s more persistent and damaging challenges. The discussion during CJI Asia made one thing clear: while everyone agrees on the risks & damage it causes, too few agree on how to effectively address them.
Why do illegal charters exist in the first place?
To put it simply: Many operators perform illegal charters simply because they can.
Across much of Asia, the regulatory environment for charter remains fragmented. Multiple jurisdictions, varying interpretations of requirements, and a patchwork of oversight leave plenty of room for confusion and, at times, willful ignorance.
Current laws make it too difficult to understand exactly what constitutes a legal charter or even what the penalties for breaking the rules are. Without clearer definitions and meaningful consequences, the problem is bound to persist.
Financial pressure also adds fuel to the fire as operating legally simply costs more, with increased costs for training, insurance, maintenance, and oversight. Some owners, looking to offset costs, are tempted to generate revenue under private registration. Others simply assume that if other operators are engaging without meaningful consequence, it can’t be that bad.
The real risks
Illegal charters don’t just break the rules – they break trust. Every instance carries a chain of risks: safety, financial exposure, legal penalties, and reputational damage.
For passengers, the immediate concern is safety. Without the extra layers of training, maintenance, and oversight required for certified charter operations, standards inevitably vary. Yes, most flights will end uneventfully, but not all. And we only have to look back a few years to an illegal charter incident in Malaysia that had devastating consequences.
And when things do go wrong, aside from the obvious safety risk, insurance coverage may be invalidated, leaving passengers and owners vulnerable.
For legitimate operators, the issue cuts to the heart of fair competition. Competing against unlicensed flights undercuts prices & erodes margins in an already competitive industry. Over time, it damages the trust that underpins the entire charter ecosystem.
The role of education
Awareness remains a powerful tool. Many illegal charters begin not with intent, but with ignorance. Educating aircraft owners, brokers, and even aviation students about what constitutes legal charter and why compliance matters could go a long way.
Industry associations and management companies share that responsibility. Proactive engagement, transparency with clients, and a commitment to reporting suspicious activity all contribute to a stronger safety culture. But education must reach beyond the industry bubble. Passengers also need to understand that “cheaper” can come at a hidden cost.
A regulatory challenge
Asia’s aviation landscape is uniquely complex. With aircraft registered across multiple jurisdictions, national authorities often defer responsibility, citing the domain of another regulator. This diffusion of accountability creates a vacuum where illegal charter can flourish.
Clearer laws specifically targeting illegal charter activities, along with clearly defined penalties for those who breach them, are essential steps forward. By contrast, regions like the US and Europe benefit from established frameworks and a track record of enforcement. There, illegal charter cases result in publicized fines and penalties that deter misconduct and reinforce the value of compliance.
In Asia, few such examples exist. Until regulators are willing to act decisively and provide legal clarity, education alone will not solve the problem.
Learning from other markets
Other regions offer useful lessons. In the US, strong collaboration between regulators and industry has led to anonymous reporting systems, visible enforcement, and even broker certification schemes. These create both accountability and trust, elements still developing in Asia.
Replicating that model will take time, but one jurisdiction stepping up could spark wider change. Singapore, for example, is well-positioned to lead, combining regulatory sophistication with regional influence. A single authority taking ownership could inspire alignment across borders.
What needs to happen next
The panel at CJI Asia ended on a practical note: the industry knows the solutions. What’s missing is execution.
More frequent ramp checks. Clear definitions of illegal charter in law. Publicly listed penalties and enforcement actions. A reporting system that works across jurisdictions. And, most of all, the collective will to stop turning a blind eye.
Until those measures are in place, illegal charter will remain what it has always been, a problem hiding in plain sight. Not because we can’t see it, but because, too often, we choose not to look closely enough.
Watch the full panel discussion here
About Brenton
Brenton has been with Avinode Group since 2013 and now serves as the Business Development Manager for the Asia-Pacific market. Tired of Gothenburg’s dark winters and subpar summers, he relocated back to his native Australia, where he now calls Sydney home.
Want to connect with Brenton? Connect with him on LinkedIn