Private jet charter, arranged properly.
YAJ Jet Charter is a boutique charter brokerage. One broker handles your trip from the first call to the landing — a private pilot with more than a decade arranging charter. Each aircraft is sourced by hand, matched to the mission, and flown by an FAA-certificated Part 135 operator whose certificate and insurance I verify and name to you, from anywhere in the US. You see the operator’s price and our fee as two separate lines.
No call center. No quote blast. No jet card required.
No cost, no obligation. Send us the trip and we’ll come back with aircraft options and all-in pricing. You decide from there.
All four fields help us quote accurately. See your estimate first. Nothing is sent until you choose to send it.
Fewer people between you and the aircraft
More than a decade arranging charter — for businesses, for friends, and for my own family with my own family on board. I’m a pilot as well as a broker, so I read an operator’s certificate and an aircraft’s limitations with the same eye I read a quote.
A broker who’s been in the seat
Cabin width, baggage volume, how a light jet actually feels on a four-hour leg rather than how it reads on paper. Sizing the aircraft to the mission is where most trips go wrong, and it is not something you learn from a comparison chart.
Operators I won’t use
Vetting is only worth something if you’re willing to act on it. Operators that have given me reason to worry — maintenance, crew, how they behave when a trip goes sideways — don’t get quoted to you, whatever the price.
You’re not paying for a sales floor
Large brokerages carry sales teams, offices, and marketing budgets, and that overhead lives inside the number they quote you. I carry none of it. You see the operator’s price and my fee as separate lines, so you know what the flight costs and what I make on it.
Small on purpose
No call center and no handoff to an account manager you have never spoken to. The person who quotes your trip is the person who confirms the tail, sends your departure details, and answers the phone when something moves. Your request is never passed around a pool of brokers, and your email never lands on a marketing list.
What you can check yourself
Every line below can be verified without asking me for anything.
- Pilot FAA certificated private pilot Listed in the FAA airmen registry
- Entity YAJ Services LLC · Michigan YAJ Jet Charter filed as an assumed name with LARA
- Background Owner-operator, multiple Michigan businesses Over two decades running companies, not a first venture
- Charter More than a decade arranging trips For businesses, for friends, and for my own family
- Disclosure Part 295 disclosures on every quote Carrier named, capacity stated, insurance position given in writing
- Independence No commission from any operator Written into the agreement you sign
How a trip comes together
Four steps, every time. You will know the aircraft, the operating carrier, and the all-in cost before a contract goes in front of you.
Tell us the trip
City pair, dates, times, passengers, baggage. Pets, skis, and golf bags change the answer, so mention them early.
We source options
Quotes requested from certificated Part 135 operators whose aircraft suit the mission and whose crews are current for it.
You see everything
Aircraft type and tail, the operating carrier's legal name, its safety audit standing, and the total cost including fees and taxes.
Confirm and fly
Charter agreement, payment, then your departure details: FBO, tail number, crew, and timing ahead of the day.
What chartering actually gets you
Most of this is true of private charter generally rather than of any one broker. Where we do something differently, it says so.
Operators, not a fleet
Aircraft are sourced per trip from certificated Part 135 operators. Nothing gets recommended because it happens to be sitting idle on someone’s ramp.
One person, start to finish
Not a concierge desk. The person who quotes the trip confirms the tail, sends your departure details, and picks up when something moves at 6am.
Private terminals
You park at the FBO, walk through a private terminal, and board — usually 15 to 20 minutes before departure. No queue and no security line domestically, though photo ID is still required. How much time that saves.
Pets in the cabin
Usually yes, and with you rather than in cargo. Policies vary by operator and a few decline, so it is confirmed before booking rather than assumed.
Catering, at cost
Arranged through the operator and the FBO, usually 24 to 48 hours ahead. Passed through at what it costs. Brokers commonly add 10% to catering. We don’t.
Ground transport, at cost
Arranged through the FBO at either end. Not “complimentary” — someone always pays for the car, and you would rather see the number than have it buried in a charter price.
Repositioning legs
Tell us a route and roughly when, and we raise it with operators whose aircraft move that way. No subscriber list and no newsletter — if something comes up you hear from us, and if nothing does you hear nothing.
Smaller airports
Often the real advantage. The constraint is runway length and the aircraft’s performance on the day, so give us the airport you actually want rather than the big one nearby.
Two numbers, not one
Almost every charter quote you will ever receive is a single figure with the broker’s margin already inside it. There is no requirement to disclose that margin, and industry estimates commonly put it at 10% or more — reaching 30% on peak routes or where a trip passes through more than one intermediary. You cannot see it, so you cannot compare it, and you will never know which part of the number was the airplane.
One number. The aircraft, the operator, the fees, and the broker’s cut, blended together. Compare it against another quote and you still cannot tell whether the difference is the airplane or the margin.
Two figures, both shown in writing before you sign anything. The operator’s price is exactly what the operator charges — I don’t mark it up, and my fee sits on its own line beside it.
Illustrative figures for a midsize jet on a Pontiac–Sarasota round trip. Real quotes vary by aircraft, date, and routing. Hourly rates and what goes into a charter price.
The fee schedule, in full
| Operator charter price | Advisory fee | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Under $20,000 | 8–12% | varies with the work involved |
| $20,000 to $50,000 | 7% | $35,000 trip → $2,450 |
| Over $50,000 | 5% | $80,000 trip → $4,000 |
| Minimum fee, any trip | $850 | applies to the smallest trips |
The rate moves with the trip rather than sitting flat. A small charter takes the same hours as a large one and sometimes more — a short-notice leg with four operators to chase, a short runway to work around and catering to sort is real work, so the smallest trips carry a band rather than a single number. I will tell you where in that band you sit when I quote, and why.
A brokerage carrying a sales floor, an office and a marketing budget has to recover all of it from the margin on every trip. I carry none of that, which is why the schedule can start where it does and fall to 5% on larger charters. The effort goes into working the sourcing hard instead — the operator’s price is the big number, and every dollar off it is a dollar you keep.
No membership. No card. No minimums.
Nothing to join, no annual dues, no deposit sitting with anyone, and no tier of inventory held back from you because you did not buy in. Fly once in five years or six times a year — the fee schedule above is the same either way, and there is nothing to cancel if you never fly again.
Nothing from the operator
I take no commission, rebate, or referral payment from any carrier, and it is written into the agreement you sign. That matters because a broker paid by the operator has a reason to prefer the operator paying most, and you would never know.
You see what the operator charged
Payment comes through me and goes to the carrier, the way charter has always worked. What’s different is that you see the carrier’s number and my fee as two separate figures, rather than one total with the margin folded invisibly into it.
The paperwork shows its work
Before you commit you get the carrier’s legal name, its certificate and audit status, its insurance limits, the full cost including taxes and fees, and an estimate of anything you will pay third parties on the day.
Matching the mission
Category drives cabin size, range, and cost far more than any particular tail number does. Brochure seat counts and published range are best cases, so the guide below shows what each class does with a real cabin and real luggage. I would rather set that expectation now than at the FBO. For groups of six to eight, there is a fuller comparison in the guide to choosing between the Citation XLS+, Learjet 60XR and Hawker 800XP.
| Class | Typical aircraft | Comfortable | Max seats | Realistic range | Good for |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Turboprop | Pilatus PC-12, King Air 350 | 4–6 | 8–9 | ~900–1,200 nm | Short legs and short runways. The value choice when the trip is under two hours. |
| Very light jet | Phenom 100, Citation M2 | 3–4 | 5–6 | ~800–1,000 nm | Two to four people on regional hops, traveling light. |
| Light jet | Citation CJ3+, Phenom 300E | 4–6 | 7–9 | ~1,300–1,600 nm | Four to six on regional trips, or Florida with sensible bags. |
| Midsize | Citation XLS+, Hawker 900XP, Learjet 60 | 6 | 8–9 | ~1,500–1,900 nm | Six in comfort to Florida or the Northeast. Eight fits on shorter legs. |
| Super-midsize | Challenger 350, Citation Longitude | 7–8 | 9–10 | ~2,600–3,200 nm | Eight with a week of luggage, and coast to coast nonstop. |
| Heavy | Gulfstream G450, Falcon 900, Challenger 650 | 9–10 | 12–14 | ~3,300–4,000 nm | Larger groups, long legs, room to move about. |
| Ultra-long-range | Gulfstream G650ER, Global 7500 | 10–12 | 14–19 | ~6,000–7,000 nm | Nonstop intercontinental with a full cabin. |
Comfortable is how many people I would put in that cabin for a two- or three-hour leg with their luggage. Max seats is what the certificate allows, and it usually counts a side-facing bench or the belted lavatory seat. Realistic range assumes that comfortable cabin, their bags and normal reserves, and it moves with wind, temperature and runway. These are guides, not quotes. Tell me the trip and I will put you in the aircraft that actually works for it at the best price I can find — not the biggest one, and not one that only works on paper.
The trips that leave Michigan most
Distances are from Oakland County International (PTK) in Pontiac. Every one of these is nonstop in a midsize jet — whether it is nonstop with your group and your luggage is the question worth asking, and each page sets out what the destination airport actually allows.
Detroit to Sarasota
918 nm · 2h 30m
Sarasota Bradenton International (SRQ)
Detroit to Naples
995 nm · 2h 45m
Naples Municipal (APF)
Detroit to Palm Beach
973 nm · 2h 40m
President Donald J. Trump International (formerly Palm Beach International) (DJT)
Detroit to Fort Lauderdale
1,002 nm · 2h 45m
Fort Lauderdale Executive (FXE)
Detroit to Boca Raton
991 nm · 2h 45m
Boca Raton (BCT)
Detroit to Stuart
943 nm · 2h 35m
Witham Field (SUA)
Detroit to Miami
1,018 nm · 2h 45m
Miami-Opa Locka Executive (OPF)
Detroit to Chicago
201 nm · 1h 00m
Chicago Executive (PWK)
Detroit to Indianapolis
220 nm · 1h 00m
Indianapolis International (IND)
Detroit to New York
433 nm · 1h 25m
Teterboro (TEB)
Detroit to Nantucket
602 nm · 1h 50m
Nantucket Memorial (ACK)
Detroit to Aspen
1,080 nm · 2h 55m
Aspen/Pitkin County (ASE)
Detroit to Scottsdale
1,442 nm · 3h 50m
Scottsdale (SDL)
Flying out of Pontiac specifically? There is a fuller guide to Oakland County International (PTK) — runways, FBOs, customs and what each field in Southeast Michigan is good for.
The cheapest seat is an aircraft already going that way
When a charter finishes, the aircraft usually has to fly home empty, and the operator pays for that either way. Sell that leg to someone traveling the same direction and everyone is better off. Discounts on repositioning legs commonly run 30% to 60% below the equivalent charter rate.
Tell me a route and I’ll watch it
I don’t publish a live inventory feed, because the ones you see online are mostly stale by the time you click. What works better: tell me where you want to go and roughly when, and I’ll raise it with operators whose aircraft move that way. If something comes up, you hear from me. If nothing does, you hear nothing. No membership, no jet card, no newsletter, no obligation.
Trips chartered by the principal of YAJ Services LLC, shown for illustration.
Two ways to find them
An aircraft already scheduled to reposition, which you fit into. Or a trip of yours that creates one, where I work the return leg with the operator so the empty flight isn’t wasted. The second is where the better pricing usually sits.
What you give up
Flexibility. The route and the window are set by someone else’s trip, and if that trip moves or cancels, yours moves with it. Empty legs suit travelers who can shift a day or drive an hour to a different airport.
Told to you up front
If a quote is a repositioning leg, it says so, and it says what that means for your trip. A discount presented as a normal charter is how people end up surprised at 6am, and I have been on the receiving end of that more than once.
If it does move
You are told as soon as I know, with time to decide. Where the aircraft or the operating carrier changes, the disclosures are reissued before you fly, and you keep the right to cancel and be refunded if that notice comes too late.
What gets checked, and what you are told
Four things are absolute and are never waived. Everything else is verified and handed to you as a fact, not as a pass mark. We publish no minimum insurance limit and require no particular audit rating — a minimum that gets waived the first time the right aircraft comes from an operator below it is worth nothing to you. You get the figures and you decide.
Certificate and aircraft Absolute
The Part 135 certificate verified current, the specific aircraft confirmed on that carrier's certificate, and the flight inside its authorized operations. An aircraft flown for hire while not on the operating certificate is an illegal charter. That one is not negotiable at any price.
Insurance in force Absolute
A current certificate of insurance obtained for your dates before any charter agreement is signed — and the actual limit reported to you as a number, whatever that number is.
Audit standing, as it stands
ARGUS rating, Wyvern registration or Wingman status, IS-BAO registration — recorded exactly as held, and reported plainly when an operator holds none.
Crew, as reported
How many pilots, their currency and their experience on type, as the operator states it and attributed that way. If an operator will not confirm something, you are told that too.
Why a pilot reads a quote differently
Hundreds of hours in the left seat doesn’t make me a charter pilot, and I don’t pretend otherwise. What it means is that I have filed the flight plans, talked to controllers, watched weather turn a straightforward trip into a different one, and waited at an FBO for fuel that was slower than promised.
So when an operator says the crew is running out of duty time, or the winds mean a fuel stop, or the runway at your preferred airport is marginal for that aircraft, I know whether that is real or whether someone is managing me. That is worth more to you than anything on a comparison chart.
Required disclosures
YAJ Jet Charter is an assumed name of YAJ Services LLC. It is an air charter broker. It is not a direct air carrier or direct foreign air carrier and does not own, operate, or hold operational control of any aircraft. All flights are operated by carriers holding the required economic authority from the U.S. Department of Transportation and the required safety authority from the Federal Aviation Administration.
We act as agent of the charterer. We are not an indirect air carrier and do not buy air transportation for our own account to resell. Before you contract a flight we disclose the operating carrier's corporate name, the capacity in which we are acting, and our liability insurance position, which is set out below. On request we also disclose any business relationship between us and the operating carrier that may bear on our selection of that carrier, the total cost of the transportation, and any broker or carrier fees and government taxes included within it.
Insurance and operational control rest with the operating carrier. Every flight is flown by an FAA-certificated Part 135 air carrier that holds operational control and carries the liability insurance covering passengers, baggage, and the aircraft. We confirm that coverage and its limits with the carrier and pass them on to you in writing before you sign anything.
YAJ Jet Charter does not itself hold liability insurance covering charterers or passengers. We do not operate aircraft, employ crew, or make dispatch decisions, so schedule changes, delays, diversions, and cancellations rest with the operating carrier under the terms of its charter agreement. Our responsibility is to place you with a carrier that meets the standards set out on this page, and to tell you precisely what you are buying before you commit to it.
Photographs on this page are of aircraft chartered by the principal of YAJ Services LLC and are shown for illustration. They do not depict aircraft owned, operated, or controlled by YAJ Jet Charter.
Start a trip request
Send the city pair, the dates, and how many are traveling. If the trip is time-critical, say so in the first line and call rather than email.
For Lasco Ford, Grand Blanc Mitsubishi, or Lasco Real Estate Group matters, please contact those businesses directly.
See your estimate first. Nothing is sent until you choose to send it.
Fenton, Michigan. Trips arranged anywhere an operator is authorized to fly.