Some may ask why a group would charter with Miami Air International (MAI) – a charter airline – instead of a large scheduled airline that operates hundreds of aircraft. Most scheduled carriers do provide charter service, and some of them claim to have plenty of aircraft to back up a charter flight in the event of a maintenance irregularity.

The truth is – the charter business is totally different than scheduled service. Scheduled airlines are committed to running their published schedule. Most, if not all, of the entire fleet within a scheduled airline, are used to support the schedule. Very few planes, if any, are set aside for charter flights. If the charter plane experiences a maintenance delay, the scheduled airline cannot withdrawal a plane from the schedule to rescue the plane with the maintenance problem. To do so, they would have to cancel or delay a flight within their schedule. Charter flights actually conflict with scheduled operations.

A scheduled airline may claim to operate in most cities within the United States and Canada, and therefore have support all over. This is true to a degree. Many scheduled airlines have personnel hired in many of the destinations they fly into. However, those employees are there to simply check-in passengers and service the aircraft. Major airlines do not have an inventory of parts housed in every station in which they fly. In the event of a maintenance break, when a part is not readily available, a scheduled carrier would have to bring in a part from another location – just as MAI would. Just like large scheduled airlines, MAI relies on other carriers for maintenance support at out stations throughout the world. Currently, MAI has a maintenance contract with one of the top five carriers to supply maintenance support wherever they have maintenance facilities and personnel. More importantly, MAI has a certified mechanic flying with all of its aircraft to supervise and assist any maintenance need while our planes are away from our headquarters in Miami, Florida.

MAI’s maintenance, safety, and training programs are all certified by the FAA to the same level as any US scheduled airline. We are qualified by the US Department of Defense to fly military troops; to do this requires stringent inspections of our maintenance, safety, and training programs. Many Fortune 500 companies have hired independent third parties to inspect MAI’s entire operation and we always pass with the highest marks.

Miami Air International’s expertise and experience in the charter business is the most significant reason to work with us when chartering an airplane for your group. Chartering is our business. We often fly into small, secondary airports that do not even have scheduled service. We sometimes have to contact a local restaurant near these small airports to accommodate first class catering requests. Once, a customer of ours used a scheduled carrier only to arrive at their destination airport with no way to get off the airplane; because the carrier did not check to and see that the airport did not have air-stairs to accommodate a large aircraft. Of course MAI addresses such issues on a daily basis to ensure the customer enjoys a seamless experience.

Some may ask why a group would charter with Miami Air International (MAI) – a charter airline – instead of a large scheduled airline that operates hundreds of aircraft. Most scheduled carriers do provide charter service, and some of them claim to have plenty of aircraft to back up a charter flight in the event of a maintenance irregularity.

The truth is – the charter business is totally different than scheduled service. Scheduled airlines are committed to running their published schedule. Most, if not all, of the entire fleet within a scheduled airline, are used to support the schedule. Very few planes, if any, are set aside for charter flights. If the charter plane experiences a maintenance delay, the scheduled airline cannot withdrawal a plane from the schedule to rescue the plane with the maintenance problem. To do so, they would have to cancel or delay a flight within their schedule. Charter flights actually conflict with scheduled operations.

A scheduled airline may claim to operate in most cities within the United States and Canada, and therefore have support all over. This is true to a degree. Many scheduled airlines have personnel hired in many of the destinations they fly into. However, those employees are there to simply check-in passengers and service the aircraft. Major airlines do not have an inventory of parts housed in every station in which they fly. In the event of a maintenance break, when a part is not readily available, a scheduled carrier would have to bring in a part from another location – just as MAI would. Just like large scheduled airlines, MAI relies on other carriers for maintenance support at out stations throughout the world. Currently, MAI has a maintenance contract with one of the top five carriers to supply maintenance support wherever they have maintenance facilities and personnel. More importantly, MAI has a certified mechanic flying with all of its aircraft to supervise and assist any maintenance need while our planes are away from our headquarters in Miami, Florida.

MAI’s maintenance, safety, and training programs are all certified by the FAA to the same level as any US scheduled airline. We are qualified by the US Department of Defense to fly military troops; to do this requires stringent inspections of our maintenance, safety, and training programs. Many Fortune 500 companies have hired independent third parties to inspect MAI’s entire operation and we always pass with the highest marks.

Miami Air International’s expertise and experience in the charter business is the most significant reason to work with us when chartering an airplane for your group. Chartering is our business. We often fly into small, secondary airports that do not even have scheduled service. We sometimes have to contact a local restaurant near these small airports to accommodate first class catering requests. Once, a customer of ours used a scheduled carrier only to arrive at their destination airport with no way to get off the airplane; because the carrier did not know the airport did not have air-stairs to accommodate a large aircraft. Miami Air’s planes are equipped with self contained air stairs to accommodate customers into small airports. Of course MAI addresses such issues on a daily basis to ensure the customer enjoys a seamless experience.

One of the many prides we take in our fleet is our use of electronic flight bags. It’s also one of our features that seems to get the most questions. Just what is an electronic flight bag?

A lot of initial confusion over the electronic flight bag comes from the fact that it is not a bag at all. To this day, pilots are required to carry a number of manuals, forms, and other documents with them on every flight. Pilots carried these materials in their “flight bag” – which tended to very cumbersome. Pilots made use of so many documents that flight bags often weighed 40 pounds or more. As an added inconvenience, 40 pounds of papers can clutter a cockpit.

As technology advanced, planes started to go paperless and documents were condensed onto computers which came to be known as electronic flight bags. When electronic flight bags first appeared in the early 1990s, they were simple laptops running standard programs like word and spreadsheet processors. Originally, pilots had to make performance or fuel calculations using manuals and pen and paper. Now, computers could perform and document all calculations conveniently and quickly.

Today, FAA-approved electronic flight bags come in many shapes and sizes. Some are average laptops or specially modified laptops. Most actually look like a tablet computer, but heavier – usually weighing between one to five pounds, which is much better than the 40 pound bags of old!

At Miami Air, we use what’s known as “Class 3” electronic flight bags – which mean they are actually installed equipment that is a part of the plane. This gives our pilots a paperless cockpit with all the information they need to get you to your destination quickly and safely.