Direct Answer
To get a Part 135 certificate, you complete the FAA’s five-phase air carrier certification process: Pre-application, Formal Application, Document Compliance, Demonstration & Inspection, and Certification. You make initial contact with your Flight Standards office, submit a formal application package — which under 14 CFR §119.35 must be filed at least 90 days before the date of intended operation — then have the FAA review your manuals, prove your operation works in practice, and finally receive the certificate and operations specifications.
14 CFR Part 119 is the regulation that requires the certificate: it prescribes the certification requirements an operator must meet to obtain and hold a certificate authorizing operations under Part 121, 125, or 135. There is no single online form and no FAA fee for the certificate — it is a months-long, document-heavy evaluation, and you cannot fly for compensation or hire until the certificate and OpSpecs are issued.
The five-phase model is FAA guidance (described in FAA policy and AC 120-49B), not numbered subsections of the CFR — confirm the current process with your Flight Standards office. The single biggest controllable variable is the quality and organization of your document package, which is where the FAA’s review concentrates.
You Don’t Apply for a Certificate — You Earn One
The single most useful reframe for anyone starting down this road is this: a Part 135 certificate is not a license you fill out a form to get. It is the FAA’s formal finding that you have built an operation capable of carrying the public for compensation safely — and that you have the manuals, people, aircraft, training, and procedures to prove it. The process exists to test that finding, phase by phase, before a single paying passenger steps aboard.
The regulatory anchor is 14 CFR Part 119. Part 119 applies to persons operating as air carriers or commercial operators in air commerce and prescribes the certification requirements an operator must meet to obtain and hold a certificate authorizing operations under Part 121, 125, or 135. Under 14 CFR §119.5, a direct air carrier is issued an Air Carrier Certificate and a U.S. commercial operator is issued an Operating Certificate — and each holder is issued operations specifications (OpSpecs) that define what it is actually authorized to do.
What that means in practice: the work is front-loaded into preparation, and the FAA’s job is to verify it. The applicants who move through certification fastest and cheapest are the ones who arrive with a complete, conforming, well-organized document set — because the heart of the process is the FAA reviewing documents and watching you demonstrate that the operation matches them. The applicants who stall are the ones cycling through document rejections. That single dynamic — document quality and organization — is the thread that runs through this entire guide.
First, confirm you actually need a Part 135 certificate
Whether a given flight requires Part 135 versus Part 91 turns on the facts — who holds operational control, whether compensation or hire is involved, and the nature of the operation. The FAA has been increasingly active against illegal or “grey” charter that flies for compensation without the required certificate. Before you invest in certification, settle the threshold question with an aviation attorney. See Part 91 vs Part 135: compensation or hire and the FAA grey-charter crackdown.
This guide is the pillar for the questions that orbit it. For the money, see how much a Part 135 certificate costs; for the timeline, see how long Part 135 certification takes; and for the failure modes, see why Part 135 applications get rejected.
Before Phase 1: What You Need in Place to Start
The FAA process formally begins with pre-application, but successful applicants arrive having already made several foundational decisions and hires. Getting these wrong — or skipping them — is the most common reason a certification stalls before it gathers momentum. None of this is the certificate itself; it is the operation you must build so the FAA has something to certificate.
Decide your scope: aircraft and kinds of operations
What aircraft will you fly, and what kinds of operations do you want authorized — VFR or IFR, day or night, single-pilot or two-pilot, passenger or cargo, any special authorizations? This scope drives everything downstream: your OpSpecs, your manuals, your training, and your cost. Requesting only what you actually need at first is one of the cleanest ways to keep certification manageable.
Line up your required management personnel
Standard certificate holders must have qualified people in the required management roles — typically a Director of Operations, a Chief Pilot, and (where applicable) a Director of Maintenance — and the FAA evaluates their qualifications. A single-pilot operator has a materially different and smaller structure. These hires must be real and qualified before you get far, and you carry their cost through the whole process.
Secure and plan to conform your aircraft
You need access to the aircraft you intend to operate and a plan to bring it — and its records — into conformity, plus an inspection or maintenance program appropriate to your operation. Aircraft type and condition swing both your cost and your timeline dramatically.
Engage aviation counsel and insurance
An aviation attorney and the right insurance coverage are foundational, not optional. Counsel is especially important on the threshold Part 91-vs-135 question, on entity structure, and if you are considering acquiring an existing certificate holder instead of certificating fresh.
Single-pilot vs standard: pick the right path early
The certificate type you pursue changes the scope of nearly everything. A single-pilot operator is exempt from the full manual requirement under 14 CFR §135.21 and carries a lighter structure, while a standard certificate holder must build the full management team and manual set. See Part 135 certificate types (single-pilot, basic, standard) and the required management personnel qualifications before you commit.
The FAA’s Five-Phase Certification Process
The FAA describes air carrier certification as a five-phase process separated by gates: the work of each phase must be substantially complete before you move past the gate to the next. These phase names are FAA guidance — the agency’s description of how it manages certification, set out in FAA policy and AC 120-49B — not numbered subsections of the CFR. Here is what happens in each.
Phase 1 — Pre-application
You make initial contact with your local Flight Standards office and signal your intent to certificate. You complete the FAA's pre-application requirements, get assigned a certification team, and begin the conversation about your proposed aircraft and kinds of operations. The decisions you lock in here — scope, certificate type, structure — shape every later phase, so this is where to be deliberate rather than fast.
Gate: the FAA agrees you are ready to move into a formal application.
Phase 2 — Formal Application
You submit the formal application package. Under 14 CFR §119.35 it must be in a form and manner prescribed by the Administrator and submitted at least 90 days before the date of intended operation. The package typically includes the formal application letter, a schedule of events, a compliance statement mapping each applicable regulation to your means of compliance, your manuals, training program, management personnel qualifications, aircraft information, and your drug and alcohol testing program. This is the phase where the quality of your document set first becomes visible — and where incomplete submissions get returned.
Gate: the FAA accepts the application as complete enough to evaluate.
Phase 3 — Document Compliance
The FAA reviews your manuals, programs, and documentation in depth, checking that they comply with the regulations and reflect safe operating practices. This is where manual-and-documentation work concentrates: the more revision cycles your documents require, the longer this phase runs. A clean, internally consistent, version-controlled document set is the single biggest lever you control to keep this phase short. (Under the FAA's modernized Safety Assurance System framework, this stage is sometimes called Design Assessment.)
Gate: your documents are found acceptable and compliant on paper.
Phase 4 — Demonstration & Inspection
You prove the operation works in practice. This phase includes records and facility inspections and proving or validation tests — actual performance of activities and operations while FAA inspectors observe. The agency validates that your crews are trained, your procedures are followed, and the operation matches the manuals it just approved. This carries the cost of training, proving runs, and the staff and aircraft you are holding while it happens. (Sometimes called Performance Assessment under the SAS framework.)
Gate: the FAA is satisfied the operation performs as documented.
Phase 5 — Certification
The FAA issues your Air Carrier or Operating Certificate and your operations specifications (OpSpecs). Your OpSpecs define exactly what you are authorized to do — aircraft, areas, kinds of operations, and any special authorizations. The certificate itself carries no FAA fee, but you arrive here having spent across all four earlier phases, and you immediately begin the continuous obligation to keep your manuals and records current for the life of the certificate.
You are now a certificate holder — and the recordkeeping never stops.
A note on phase names and the SAS modernization
The classic five-phase model (Pre-application, Formal Application, Document Compliance, Demonstration & Inspection, Certification) comes from long-standing FAA certification guidance and AC 120-49B. The FAA has modernized its oversight under the Safety Assurance System (SAS), where the document and demonstration stages are sometimes described as Design Assessment and Performance Assessment. The names and tools can change; the underlying logic — agree on scope, submit documents, prove the documents are compliant, demonstrate the operation works, then issue the certificate — is stable. The one hard regulatory anchor on timing is 14 CFR §119.35: the formal application at least 90 days before intended operation. Always confirm the current process and terminology with your Flight Standards office.
The certificate and OpSpecs you receive in Phase 5 are not the end of the documentation story — they are the start of it. For what those OpSpecs actually authorize and how they work, see operations specifications (OpSpecs) explained and OpSpecs, MSpecs & LOA explained. And because operational control is the concept the FAA scrutinizes hardest in on-demand operations, see what operational control means in Part 135.
Is your certification document set ready for the FAA’s review — or scattered across drafts and inboxes?
FileFlo does not get you certified, write your manuals, or file your application — those are your certification team’s job. What FileFlo does is give your application documents, manuals, compliance statement, and personnel records one version-controlled, classified home, so the FAA’s Document Compliance review moves faster and the rework that drags out certification is easier to avoid. After certification, it keeps your operating records audit-ready. Starter at $89/mo, Professional at $299/mo. 5-day free trial, no credit card required.
The Document Package the Process Runs On
If there is one thing to internalize about Part 135 certification, it is that the process is fundamentally a document evaluation. The formal application is documents. Document Compliance is the FAA reviewing those documents. Demonstration & Inspection checks that your operation matches the documents. The applicants who struggle are almost always the ones whose document set is incomplete, internally inconsistent, or impossible to navigate. Below are the core documents the process demands. Exact contents vary by operation and Flight Standards office — confirm yours — but this is the backbone.
Formal application letter
14 CFR §119.35The signed letter that formally requests certification and triggers the formal-application phase. It must be in the form and manner the Administrator prescribes and is the document the 90-day clock attaches to.
Schedule of events
FAA guidanceYour proposed timeline of certification milestones, coordinated with the certification team. It is how the FAA and you stay aligned on what gets done, and when, through the phases.
Compliance statement (letter of compliance)
FAA guidanceA line-by-line mapping of each applicable regulation to exactly how you will comply and where in your manuals that compliance lives. This is one of the most scrutinized documents in the package — a vague or incomplete compliance statement is a fast route to rework.
General Operations Manual (and other required manuals)
14 CFR §135.21Under §135.21, every certificate holder other than a single-pilot operator must prepare and keep current a manual of procedures and policies acceptable to the FAA, used by flight, ground, and maintenance personnel. This is typically the largest documentation effort in the whole process.
Training program
Part 135 training rulesYour initial and recurrent training curriculum and the framework that produces qualified crews — the program the FAA validates during Demonstration & Inspection.
Required management personnel qualifications
Part 119 / Part 135Resumes and qualification evidence for your Director of Operations, Chief Pilot, and (where applicable) Director of Maintenance, demonstrating they meet the FAA's requirements for the roles.
Aircraft & maintenance program information
Part 135 maintenance rulesAircraft data, conformity evidence, and your inspection or maintenance program documentation establishing how each aircraft will be kept airworthy.
Drug & alcohol testing program
Anti-drug & alcohol misuse rulesThe required testing program for safety-sensitive employees, which must be in place and documented as part of the package.
What makes a document package move fast vs. stall
Rework is the silent cost and delay driver
A document set that bounces back from the FAA for corrections does not just delay the certificate — it extends every carrying cost and adds consultant or in-house labor to fix and resubmit. Understanding why Part 135 applications get rejected is therefore as much a cost-control exercise as a compliance one — and a tight, version-controlled document set pays for itself in avoided rework.
For the manual specifically — the largest single piece — see the General Operations / Maintenance Manual requirements. If you are pursuing a single-pilot certificate, your package is materially lighter; see Part 135 single-pilot operator records. And if a broker will feed you trips, factor in charter broker compliance under 14 CFR Part 295 and truth-in-leasing aircraft lease records (§91.23) where leased aircraft are involved.
After the Certificate: The Records Obligation Never Ends
Phase 5 is not a finish line — it is the start of a continuous recordkeeping obligation that runs for the life of the operation. The manuals you built must be kept current. The pilot, maintenance, training, and authorization records the regulations require must be maintained, retrievable, and audit-ready every day you operate, not reconstructed in a panic before a surveillance visit. Newly certificated operators are a focus of FAA surveillance precisely because the gap between “passed certification” and “runs a disciplined records program” is where problems show up. This is the obligation most startup plans underestimate — and the one FileFlo is built for.
Operating manuals — kept current
14 CFR §135.21Why it is a continuing obligation
The General Operations Manual (for operators using more than one pilot) must be kept current and used by flight, ground, and maintenance personnel. Every regulatory or OpSpecs change creates a revision obligation — a stale manual is a finding.
How FileFlo keeps it audit-ready
FileFlo version-controls each manual revision with effective dates and a retained history, so the current version is always identifiable and superseded versions never get mistaken for live ones.
Pilot records
Part 135 pilot recordkeepingWhy it is a continuing obligation
Records establishing each required crewmember's qualifications, checks, and currency must be maintained. Gaps and lapses are among the most common surveillance findings — and a direct operational cost when an aircraft cannot be legally dispatched because a record is missing or expired.
How FileFlo keeps it audit-ready
FileFlo classifies and tracks pilot qualification and currency records, surfacing expirations before they ground a flight.
Maintenance & airworthiness records
Aircraft maintenance recordkeepingWhy it is a continuing obligation
Inspection-program and continuous-airworthiness records for each aircraft must be complete and current. Incomplete maintenance records are both a compliance exposure and a financial one — they can stop a revenue flight and undermine aircraft value.
How FileFlo keeps it audit-ready
FileFlo indexes maintenance and inspection records against each tail number and program, keeping the airworthiness picture complete and retrievable.
Training program records
Part 135 training recordkeepingWhy it is a continuing obligation
Records proving that initial and recurrent training was completed as your approved program requires — the evidence behind the program the FAA validated during Demonstration & Inspection.
How FileFlo keeps it audit-ready
FileFlo tracks training completion and recurrence, flagging the next due date before currency lapses.
OpSpecs & authorization documents
14 CFR §119.43Why it is a continuing obligation
Your operations specifications must be maintained at your principal base and mirrored in your operating manual, and every authorization implies underlying evidence you still meet its conditions. An OpSpecs change not reflected downstream is a version-drift finding.
How FileFlo keeps it audit-ready
FileFlo version-tracks OpSpecs revisions and links them to the manual excerpts and underlying records that must stay in sync.
Related reading: What records a Part 135 operator must keep · Part 135 pilot records required by the FAA · How to prepare for a Part 135 surveillance audit · FAA Part 135 SMS 2027 deadline · Part 135 SMS requirements
FileFlo is the proof layer, not the certification consultant
To be unambiguous about what FileFlo does and does not do: FileFlo is a compliance document intelligence platform that classifies, indexes, version-controls, and tracks expirations on your compliance documents. It does not obtain your certificate, file your application, write your manuals, conform your aircraft, interact with the FAA, broker any deal, or provide legal, financial, or tax advice. Your certification team, your required management personnel, and your aviation attorney own that work. What FileFlo does is make the documentation cleaner to produce during certification — one organized, version-controlled home for your application package and manuals — and far easier to keep audit-ready for the life of the certificate afterward. The certificate is the FAA’s to issue; keeping the record that proves your compliance complete and current is the document problem FileFlo solves. (FileFlo does not claim SOC 2 certification.)
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you get a Part 135 certificate?
You earn a Part 135 air carrier or operating certificate by completing the FAA's certification process — described by the FAA as a five-phase process with gates: (1) Pre-application, where you make initial contact with your Flight Standards office and signal intent; (2) Formal Application, where you submit the formal application package, which under 14 CFR §119.35 must be filed at least 90 days before the date of intended operation; (3) Document Compliance, where the FAA reviews your manuals and documentation in depth; (4) Demonstration and Inspection, where you prove your procedures, training, and aircraft work in practice through proving runs and inspections; and (5) Certification, where the FAA issues the certificate and your operations specifications. Part 119 is the regulatory anchor that requires the certificate. The phase names are FAA guidance, not regulatory text. You cannot fly for compensation or hire under Part 135 until the certificate and OpSpecs are issued. Sources: 14 CFR Part 119; 14 CFR §119.35; FAA Part 135 certification process guidance and AC 120-49B.
How do you apply for a Part 135 certificate?
You apply by completing the FAA's pre-application steps with your local Flight Standards office and then submitting a formal application package. Under 14 CFR §119.35 the formal application must be in a form and manner prescribed by the Administrator and must be submitted at least 90 days before the date of intended operation. The package typically includes a formal application letter, a schedule of events, a compliance statement that maps each applicable regulation to how you will comply, your General Operations Manual and other required manuals, training program, resumes and qualifications for your required management personnel, aircraft information, and your drug and alcohol testing program. The FAA does not charge a fee to issue a domestic Part 135 certificate — the cost is in preparing all of this and proving you are ready. There is no single online form that issues a certificate; it is a months-long, document-heavy evaluation. Source: 14 CFR §119.35; FAA Part 135 certification guidance.
How do you start a Part 135 charter company?
Starting a Part 135 charter operation means building a certificate holder the FAA can certificate, then running it through certification. In practice that means: form the business entity and line up aviation counsel and insurance; secure the aircraft you intend to operate and bring it into conformity; hire qualified required management personnel (typically a Director of Operations, Chief Pilot, and where applicable a Director of Maintenance); write the General Operations Manual and the other required manuals and programs; make initial contact with your Flight Standards office; then file the formal application at least 90 days before intended operation and work through Document Compliance, Demonstration and Inspection, and Certification. You decide early what kinds of operations and aircraft you will request, because that scope drives your OpSpecs, your manuals, and your cost. Until the certificate and OpSpecs are issued you cannot legally fly for compensation or hire. This is a regulatory and operational build, not just a business registration.
How long does it take to get a Part 135 certificate?
The hard regulatory floor is set by 14 CFR §119.35: the formal application must be submitted at least 90 days before the date of intended operation. But 90 days is a minimum lead time, not a typical completion time. In practice the full five-phase process commonly runs several months to well over a year, depending on your Flight Standards office's workload, the complexity of your operation, the number and type of aircraft, the authorizations you request, and — critically — how complete and conforming your manuals and documentation are when you submit them. Incomplete or non-conforming submissions get returned for rework, and every cycle adds time. Reducing rework by submitting a clean, organized, version-controlled document set is one of the few levers an applicant directly controls. Source: 14 CFR §119.35; FAA Part 135 certification process guidance.
How much does it cost to get a Part 135 certificate?
There is no FAA fee to issue a domestic Part 135 certificate and no published price, so any number you see is an industry planning estimate, not a quote. The cost is everything you must do to prove readiness: manuals and documentation (written in-house or by a consultant), required management personnel salaries carried through a months-long process, aircraft conformity and a maintenance program, training, legal, insurance, and the working capital to carry it all before your first revenue flight. As a widely cited 2026 planning range, operators commonly budget roughly $75,000 to $200,000 or more all-in for a single-aircraft on-demand certificate, with larger or more complex operations running well above that. Treat any single figure as a placeholder; your real number depends on your operation, your aircraft, and your Flight Standards office. For a full breakdown, see our dedicated Part 135 certificate cost article. Sources: FAA Part 135 certification guidance; industry cost estimates, 2026.
What are the five phases of Part 135 certification?
The FAA describes its air carrier certification process as five phases separated by gates, where the work of one phase must be substantially complete before you move past the gate to the next. The five phases are: Phase 1 — Pre-application (initial contact and intent); Phase 2 — Formal Application (submitting the formal application package, due at least 90 days before intended operation under 14 CFR §119.35); Phase 3 — Document Compliance (in-depth FAA review of your manuals and documentation for compliance); Phase 4 — Demonstration and Inspection (proving runs, validation tests, records and facility inspections — proving the operation works in practice); and Phase 5 — Certification (issuance of the certificate and operations specifications). The FAA has also modernized this framework under its Safety Assurance System, where the document and demonstration phases are sometimes called Design Assessment and Performance Assessment. Either way, the phase structure is FAA guidance, not regulatory text, and can be revised — confirm the current process with your Flight Standards office. Source: FAA Part 135 certification process guidance; AC 120-49B.
Do I need a Part 135 certificate to fly charter?
If you are carrying persons or property for compensation or hire in on-demand or commuter operations, you generally need to operate under Part 135 and hold the corresponding certificate — and 14 CFR Part 119 is the regulation that requires it. Part 119 prescribes the certification requirements an operator must meet to obtain and hold a certificate authorizing operations under Part 121, 125, or 135. A direct air carrier is issued an Air Carrier Certificate and a U.S. commercial operator is issued an Operating Certificate (14 CFR §119.5). Whether a specific flight requires Part 135 versus Part 91 turns on the facts — who has operational control, whether compensation or hire is involved, and the nature of the flight — and the FAA has been increasingly active against illegal or 'grey' charter operations that fly for compensation without the required certificate. This is a question for your aviation attorney and the FAA, not a self-assessment. Source: 14 CFR Part 119; 14 CFR §119.5.
Does FileFlo get you a Part 135 certificate?
No. FileFlo does not get you certified, write your manuals, file your application, conform your aircraft, interact with the FAA, or provide legal, financial, or tax advice — those are functions of your certification team, your required management personnel, and your aviation attorney. FileFlo is a compliance document intelligence platform: it classifies, indexes, version-controls, and tracks expirations on the documents the certification process demands and the operating records you must maintain afterward. During certification, that means a single organized, version-controlled home for your application documents, manuals, compliance statement, and personnel records — so the FAA's Document Compliance review moves faster and the rework that adds time is easier to avoid. After certification, it keeps your pilot, maintenance, training, and authorization records audit-ready for the life of the certificate. FileFlo is the proof layer, not the certification consultant, and it does not claim SOC 2 certification.
Get the document half of certification under control
FileFlo organizes and version-controls your Part 135 application documents, manuals, and compliance statement during certification — reducing the rework that drags out the process — then keeps your pilot, maintenance, training, and authorization records audit-ready for the life of the certificate. AI document classification. 600+ document types. One-click FAA surveillance binder. Starter at $89/mo, Professional at $299/mo. No credit card required for the 5-day free trial. FileFlo does not get you certified or give legal advice — it organizes and proves your compliance documents.
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Continue your Part 135 certification reading
Reviewed by Chad Griffith, Founder, FileFlo — compliance document intelligence. Last reviewed June 15, 2026. The 90-day formal-application requirement is verified against the Cornell Legal Information Institute eCFR (14 CFR §119.35); Part 119 applicability (§119.1), the certificate-type framework (§119.5), and the manual requirement (§135.21) likewise. The five-phase certification process (Pre-application, Formal Application, Document Compliance, Demonstration & Inspection, Certification) is FAA guidance described in FAA policy and AC 120-49B, not regulatory text, and the FAA may revise it — confirm the current process with your Flight Standards office. Any cost figures are hedged industry planning ranges as of 2026; there is no FAA fee for the certificate. Not legal, financial, or tax advice.