Press Release
Issued by ARGUS International.
February 3, 2015
ARGUS International, Inc. is pleased to announce that they have reached the milestone of 500 ARGUS rated charter operators holding either a Platinum or Gold rating. The ARGUS rating is the most sought after symbol of quality for charter consumers around the globe. These 500 operators come from more than 15 countries on five different continents and collectively account for over 4000 aircraft including jets, turboprops and helicopters. Since the rating program's inception in 2001, charter consumers have run over a half-million TripCHEQ reports which vet the commercial operator, aircraft and flight crew against a stringent set of requirements.
The ARGUS rating program is managed through a proprietary, web-based, application known as CHEQ (Charter Evaluation and Qualification). The CHEQ system database is so large that each year there are over 600,000 updates to the data that supports the ARGUS rating program. Of the 500 rated operators, 126 have achieved the coveted ARGUS Platinum rating, which combines the historical accident and incident analysis that makes up a Gold rating with a thorough on-site audit by a team of experienced aviation operations and maintenance auditors. Additionally, there are currently nearly 20 charter operators working through the process of receiving their Gold rating which requires the submission and review of significant operator and pilot data.
“The demand for charter flights is on the rise in the established markets of North America and Europe, and we are seeing significant growth in many developing countries around the world”, stated ARGUS ceo Joe Moeggenberg. “Although there are aviation regulations governing commercial flight activity and great safety initiatives like IS-BAO, there is a need for a comprehensive due diligence service like CHEQ to compile all of this data in one place, and present it to the consumer in an easy to understand format, namely the TripCHEQ. The fact is, the largest consumers of business aircraft charter services want to know much more about their charter operator, pilots and aircraft.” The CHEQ system from ARGUS is U.S.-EU Safe Harbor registered, indicating a compliance with Safe Harbor Framework designed to provide adequate protection for personal data. ARGUS also offers Trip Assurance travel insurance, underwritten by The Nationwide Insurance Company, covering passengers on charter flights receiving a Green TripCHEQ report before takeoff. Additionally, only ARGUS ratings are incorporated with all of the leading online charter marketplace websites, providing the users with the ability to filter their results for a charter operator by ARGUS rating.
