What the rule says
Part 295 is a Department of Transportation rule, effective February 14, 2019. 4 It covers anyone who, as an indirect air carrier or bona fide agent, "holds out, sells, or arranges single entity charter air transportation" (a whole-aircraft charter paid for by the charterer). The operator is the direct air carrier with "control over the operational functions". 5
Before entering a contract for a specific flight, § 295.24 requires the broker to disclose (1) the operator's corporate name and trading names, (2) the capacity in which the broker acts (principal, or agent of charterer or carrier) and (6) whether it holds "liability insurance … covering the charterer and passengers and property", and its limits. Before contracting and "upon request of the charterer", it must disclose (3) any business relationship with the carrier that may bear on its selection, when it is the charterer's agent, (4) the total cost including fees and taxes, and (5) third-party fees the charterer pays directly. 1
Section 295.23 requires every solicitation and advertisement, "including internet web pages", to state clearly that it is a broker, not the carrier in operational control. 2 Section 295.50 makes any violation an unfair or deceptive practice and lists eleven such practices "among others", including misrepresenting that the broker is a direct air carrier or that passengers are directly insured, and representing that a flight has been arranged "without a binding commitment" with a carrier. 3
What it does not mean
Part 295 creates no license or registry: DOT "decided not to create a registry of air charter brokers", 4 and the Part exempts brokers acting as indirect air carriers from parts of the aviation statute "only if and so long as they comply" with it. 2 NBAA's Part 295 Q&A confirms there is "no government-sponsored registry". 6 "Part 295 compliant" describes behavior, not a credential.
"On request" does not cover the operator's name; the name, capacity and insurance statement are due before the contract, unasked. 1 If the operator is not known when you sign, the broker must name it "within a reasonable time" after learning it; if not, you must be offered cancellation and a full refund. Every required or requested disclosure is due before the flight starts. 1 DOT confirmed this reading in an opinion NBAA reported in March 2021. 7
Ask for all six items in writing before you sign, and check that the operator, once named, holds its own DOT and FAA authority; § 295.20 bars selling a flight on one that does not. 2
Why it matters for AI answers
A broker's "how we work" page that states these six disclosures in the rule's own terms, with the section numbers and a review date, in HTML, is the page an engine can quote when a buyer asks how booking through a broker works. The broker segment page shows how buyers ask about it, and the glossary entry carries the short form.