An AOC is not a document you obtain. It is a state the company has to be in and then demonstrate: the people, the manuals, the procedures and the aircraft all have to exist and work before the inspection arrives.
Three mistakes are typical. The first is to buy the aircraft first and think about the operator afterwards: the aircraft sits there eating money while certification runs its course. The second is formal manuals written from a template: they are not accepted, and rewriting them costs months. The third is post holders who exist on paper only: the experience requirements do get checked, and rightly so.
A realistic horizon for the launch is from several months to a year, depending on the type of operation, the fleet and how ready the team is. A promise of “six weeks” is worth treating as a signal.
From several months to a year. The timeline is set by the type of operation, how ready the manuals are, whether the post holders are in place and the state of the fleet — not by how quickly the application is filed.
Yes, and it is often the right way to go: less capital at risk, quicker feedback on the economics. Expanding the fleet is planned once the annual flight hours are steady.
Not necessarily. At the start it is more usual to contract a certified organisation — your own base is justified with a larger fleet.
Yes. The first year is the hardest: that is when it becomes clear whether the procedures as written actually work and whether the model matches reality.
Describe the situation — I answer personally and to the point.