The short answer
ARGUS and Wyvern are independent third-party auditors of charter operators. They examine maintenance programs, pilot training and experience, insurance, and operational history, and issue a rating on that basis. A rating is not a badge an operator buys — it is an audit they pass, and it can be lost. The question that matters more than which ratings a broker requires is how often they re-check them: a rating confirmed once at onboarding tells you nothing about the aircraft you are boarding today.
The problem these ratings solve
Charter safety is genuinely difficult for a passenger to assess. You cannot read a maintenance log. You cannot evaluate a pilot’s training record. You are, in practice, trusting somebody’s judgment about an organization you will never see.
Independent auditing exists to make that trust checkable by someone other than the company asking for it.
What ARGUS assesses
ARGUS International audits charter operators and issues ratings — Gold, Gold Plus and Platinum in ascending order of rigour — based on a review that includes:
- Historical operating record and accident or incident history
- Pilot experience, training currency and background verification
- Aircraft maintenance programs and airworthiness records
- Insurance coverage and limits
- For the higher ratings, an on-site audit of the operator’s actual practices
The distinction between the levels is essentially how much of it is verified on paper versus verified in person. Platinum requires an on-site audit and a safety management system.
What Wyvern assesses
Wyvern has a longer history in operational risk auditing and is used heavily by corporate flight departments with formal aviation safety policies. Its standard examines similar territory — operator systems, crew qualification, maintenance, insurance — with a particular emphasis on matching a specific crew and aircraft to a specific trip.
That last emphasis matters, and it points at the real question.
The question that actually matters
Most brokers will tell you they use ARGUS or Wyvern rated operators. Almost none will volunteer how often they check.
A rating is a point-in-time assessment. An operator can hold an excellent rating in March, have a key maintenance person leave in May, let a certificate lapse in July, and still appear on a list compiled in March. Ratings can be and are downgraded.
So ask: do you verify the operator’s certificate, insurance and current rating before every trip, or once when you added them to your list?
The honest answers to that vary far more than the answers about which ratings are required. Velocity re-verifies per trip — The Velocity Standard sets out exactly what gets checked and when.
What a rating does not tell you
Being honest about the limits of these things:
A rating assesses the operator, not the trip. An excellent operator can still be the wrong choice for a particular flight — an aircraft that cannot use the runway you need at the payload you have, or a crew without experience at a demanding field.
Airport-specific experience is separate. Aspen in winter, a Caribbean strip at night, and London City’s steep approach are not routine. Total hours do not capture that. Time in type at that field does.
A rating is not an outcome guarantee. It is strong evidence of a disciplined organization, which is genuinely the best available proxy. It is not a promise, and a broker who presents it as one is telling you something about themselves.
The structural point
There is one factor that no auditor assesses and it may be the most important: whether the person choosing your aircraft has a reason to prefer one answer.
A program that owns or manages its fleet carries a utilization target. An aircraft earning nothing is a cost. That does not make anyone reckless — the industry is full of serious professionals — but it creates a constant, quiet pull toward flying the aircraft you have.
Velocity owns no aircraft. There is nothing on the other side of the scale, which is why declining a trip that does not meet the standard requires no restraint. It has happened, and it will happen again.
Related questions
While we are here.
Is ARGUS or Wyvern better?
They are different rather than ranked. ARGUS is widely used across North American business aviation; Wyvern is heavily used by corporate flight departments and has deep roots in operational risk auditing. Many serious operators hold both. Requiring one or the other is reasonable; requiring neither is not.
Does an ARGUS rating guarantee a safe flight?
No, and any broker who implies otherwise is overselling it. A rating is strong evidence that an operator runs a disciplined organization. It is not a guarantee, and it is one input among several — including whether the crew has experience at the specific airport you are flying into.
What is FAA Part 135?
The section of US federal aviation regulations governing commercial on-demand charter. A Part 135 certificated carrier is held to substantially stricter maintenance, crew training, duty-time and operational standards than private Part 91 operation.