Anyone ever organized a charter flight?

[Baylor3217]

What's the most cost effective way for say 100-140 people?

[BlueMR2]

Wow.  That's a LOT of people.  Probably going to have to go straight to the major airlines for that!  Most charter operations can only handle up to 30 people!

[chicagomeg]

I don't know if we do this for cost effectiveness or convenience, but I work in a study abroad office and we organize a group flight for 80-100 students every semester. We go through a local travel agency. They do still exist!

ETA: We used to use charter flights, but the insurance requirements & risk you take on by doing that are a nightmare. Our risk management office doesn't allow it and neither does our travel insurance provider. 

[YK-Phil]

I am not familiar with the US air industry, but I worked for a major Canadian airline until a couple of months ago doing mostly scheduled routes, but we had regular charter flights for oil and gas companies, hockey teams, private groups, etc. but our largest charter aircraft was a CRJ-100 that can accommodate up to 50 passengers. Other airlines in Canada such as Firstair and Canadian North do regular charters for mining companies, using ATRs, Dash-8, Boeing 737-Combi, Boeing 737-300s with a seating capacity of 136, and Boeing 737-400 that seats 135. When you want to go from point A to B as quickly as possible and you can fill the aircraft to capacity, chartering is the cheapest and most economical way to go.