WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal appeals court says private pilots can’t offer flight-sharing services to the public using an Internet model similar to sites like Uber and Lyft.
The ruling Friday upholds a decision earlier this year by the Federal Aviation Administration that said the service offered by Boston-based Flytenow violates flight regulations.
The company’s website connected private pilots with passengers willing to share fuel costs and other flight expenses. Such cost-sharing arrangements have been allowed for decades through word of mouth, bulletin boards and email.
But the FAA said that posting a planned trip on a website was like advertising and subjected private pilots to the same elaborate safety regulations as pilots for commercial airlines. That forced the company to shut down.
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