Archived news

Last weekend global aviation specialists, Air Charter Service, entered a team into the Great River Race – a gruelling 21 mile course down the Thames from London’s Docklands to Richmond, Surrey. 

The event draws in competitors from all over the UK and from around Europe. It has been hotly contested ever since the inaugural race in 1988, and this year more teams entered than ever before. Boats of all shapes and sizes compete in what has been dubbed ‘London’s River Marathon’.

Teams of all abilities may take part, which may explain ACS’s entry! Team Captain, Kirti Odedra, said: “ACS arranges and takes part in fund-raising events on a regular basis, but this one is more physically demanding than most! We had a tough training regime and it paid off as none of us really had any kind of rowing experience, and we needed to get used to our twin-hulled bell boat!”

The team, dressed as pilots and named ‘ACS - No Plane No Gain’, completed the course in an impressive 3 hours 20 minutes.

Kirti continued: “At ACS we have our own charity committee which matches the amount that our employees pledge. We reached our target of £5,000 and will donate the money to our three nominated charities: WaterAid, the Teenage Cancer Trust and the Rainbow Trust.”

ACS’s New York and London offices recently worked closely together to ensure that a Le Mans driver making his debut in the race transferred from London to the French city in double-quick time.

The driver’s US-based management company phoned ACS’s New York office to organise a jet to connect with the driver’s scheduled flight into London’s Heathrow Airport. Due to racing commitments in the US, the driver was on a tight schedule to get to Le Mans in time to meet up with his team mates and practice in their Aston Martin before the first 24 hour endurance race. With the help of ACS’s London office a Piaggio Avanti aircraft was quickly found that could perform the charter, and that was even able to get a suitable slot out of Heathrow.

Once he had landed in London the driver was met off the aircraft by security, hurried through immigration and onto the awaiting aircraft. The whole operation was extremely smooth, and the driver arrived in Le Mans in the early hours of the morning.

Four Air Charter Service brokers recently took on the 3 peaks challenge in support of Bowel Cancer UK. The challenge was to climb the UK’s 3 highest mountains, Ben Nevis in Scotland, Scafell Pike in England and Mount Snowdon in Wales, all within 24 hours.

Joel Fenn, James Cristofoli, Thomas Howe and Andrew Summers completed the challenge in 21 hours 56 minutes, and the four raised £1,500 which was matched by ACS’s Charity Committee.

Executive Jet Sales Manager Joel Fenn said, “With 655,000 deaths worldwide per year, Bowel Cancer is the the third leading cause of cancer-related death in the Western world. We wanted to raise awareness as well as money for this cause and we would like to thank all our sponsors for helping us smash our original fundraising target.”

Air Charter Service’s passenger department has been incredibly busy despite airspace over much of Northern Europe being closed due to the ash cloud produced by the Eyjafjallajökull volcano in Iceland which erupted last Thursday. People are using private jets to fly to and from the edge of the cloud and demand continues to increase as people find charter is the only way to get home.

Joel Fenn, Passenger Sales Director, explains: “Though we have obviously had to postpone some flights as they were in affected areas, more and more people are trying to snap up the earliest possible availabilities for when the ash cloud finally disperses and the airspace re-opens, including people that wouldn’t normally think of chartering a private jet.”

As a charter solution provider ACS’s experts have been working round the clock with operators - in some cases to actually fly clients around the cloud, disrupting travel schedules only by the slightly extra flight time.

Fenn explains how Air Charter Service has been helping in other ways: “For people in America and the Far East we have chartered aircraft into cities in Southern Europe such as Rome and Madrid and then laid on road transport for them on to their final destinations in Northern Europe, whose airspaces are still covered by the ash cloud.”

Fenn, along with many of his colleagues spent the weekend in the office in London and even slept there dealing with continuous calls and problem solving. “We set up temporary beds on Saturday night here in the office as the phones were ringing non-stop”.

Fenn commented: “It’s been an exhausting period, but we are helping as many people as we can, and there’s a great deal of satisfaction knowing that people are finally getting where they need to be despite what Mother Nature is throwing at us.”

ACS expects a further increase in demand when airspace re-opens as the backlog of passengers clears.

For any aircraft charter, please contact us: passenger@aircharter.co.uk

Air Charter Service was called into action less than an hour after a devastating earthquake in Haiti.

Just before 10pm UK time (5pm local time) on Tuesday evening a massive earthquake measuring 7.2 on the Richter scale struck less than ten miles from the centre of Port-au-Prince - the capital of Haiti. It is the largest earthquake to hit the country in two centuries. It is estimated that upwards of 50,000 people may have died as a result of the initial earthquake and the 13 subsequent aftershocks, and more than half a million homes have been affected.

As a result, millions of pounds worth of aid has been pledged by the British Government and various charities. Despite the snowy conditions in southern England on Wednesday, Air Charter Service managed to work with Gatwick Airport to clear a runway so that the chartered Boeing 757 could depart with the UK search and rescue teams.

Matthew Purton, Passenger Sales Manager at ACS’s London office, said: “We started receiving calls at about 11pm from the British Government for an aircraft to carry an assembled team of approximately 80 firefighters, aid workers and journalists to the affected area as soon as possible. We were working throughout the night contacting the appropriate airlines and handling agents to organise the UK’s response to the disaster.”

ACS had three representatives at Gatwick first thing on Wednesday morning coordinating the aid teams and arranging check in. James Leach of ACS travelled on board the aircraft: “We flew into Santa Domingo in the neighbouring Dominican Republic as when we left the UK the control tower at Port au Prince was not operational. From what I have seen so far, the devastation appears to be on a par with when I was in Banda Aceh following the tsunami in December 2004.” James Leach is remaining on site to coordinate further relief flights.

ACS's London office has chartered further passenger and cargo aircraft, ACS also has additional aircraft operating from Scandinavia, and flights organised by the company’s Spanish and U.S. offices are also currently underway.

To find out more about ACS's relief efforts, or any aircraft charter at all, please contact us: passenger@aircharter.co.uk  

Air Charter Service has experienced a huge influx of requests for passenger charters following last Friday evening’s draw for next year’s FIFA World Cup in South Africa. Earlier this year ACS opened an office in Johannesburg as part of their expansion over what has been a good 2009 for the company, and it could not have come at a better time in the run up to the 2010 tournament.

Almost half a million football supporters are expected to travel to South Africa over the month long event and without sufficient scheduled aircraft capacity, the role of charters will be huge in the tournament’s logistical operation. In anticipation of this demand Air Charter Service is securing exclusive aircraft for the duration of the competition. Jon Thompson commented: “We have been receiving enquiries about next year for quite a while now, but since the draw the phones have been ringing off the hook”.

As well as the large commercial airliner charter demand ACS has also received an influx of private jet charter enquiries. Their contacts have already informed them that there are some airports that are planning on shutting down one runway to accommodate the extra aircraft, particularly for the executive jets which are expected. Having an office in South Africa is providing other valuable information such as this.

Leading up to the draw for the group stages last week, Air Charter Service had representatives at Soccerex in Johannesburg – the premier football business exhibition. Joining their ACS South Africa counterparts were representatives from ACS London, including Jon Thompson, Commercial Sales Director. Following the 3 day exhibition ACS staff attended the glitzy televised draw on Friday evening – there is no sporting event without any actual play that is more watched than the World Cup draw.

Air Charter Service has a wealth of experience in football chartering – earlier this year in May the company transported more than 3,500 Manchester United fans to the UEFA Champions’ League final in Rome, and flew the losing team back home. And last month ACS transferred the Brazil national team between friendly fixtures against England in Doha and Oman in Muscat.

For more information on charters to the World Cup, or for any charters at all, please email: passenger@aircharter.co.uk

Air Charter Service is exhibiting at this year’s EIBTM (European Incentive, Business Travel and Meetings) in Barcelona. The exhibition is running between the first and the third of December this year. Air Charter Service’s stand is number F705.

The EIBTM event delivers ‘three days of focused access to a dynamic business environment, thought provoking professional education and business networks for exhibitors, hosted buyers and trade visitors’.

Natalia Delle Ville, general manager ACS Spain, commented: “It is important to have a presence at EIBTM - it is an opportunity to make new contacts, and reaffirm current ones. There are over 3000 international suppliers from more than 100 countries that are in attendance over the course of the exhibition.

Please visit us at EIBTM - Stand Number F705.

For any aircraft charter, please contact us: passenger@aircharter.co.uk  

Air Charter Service is attending the World’s premier football exhibition - Soccerex. The event has been going for more than 10 years now, and is being held in South Africa for the third year running, in the run-up to next year’s FIFA World Cup in the country. 

ACS will be at Stand Number 127 throughout the exhibition which runs from Monday November 30th until Wednesday December 2nd. Lyndee du Toit, Director of ACS’s Johannesburg office, will be joined by Jon Thompson, Commercial Sales Director, and Steve Huddlestone, Sports Manager, as representatives from ACS London.

Lyndee commented: “Soccerex is a great forum to meet all the important contacts in the game. Although we only opened the South African office earlier this year, ACS has been to the previous two exhibitions here, and they were both a great success. And with the World Cup just around the corner, it’s even more important than usual to have a presence at the show”.

For any aircraft charter, please contact us: passenger@aircharter.co.uk   

Air Charter Service is delighted to announce the opening of their new office in Paris. The venture is their third passenger operation in Europe with offices already in Bilbao, Spain, and their head office in London; along with 6 other offices worldwide.

Heading up the new operation is Benjamin Sinclair. Benjamin has been working in the London office for a number of months now, and is very excited to be starting ACS's office in his native France. He has many years in the industry already as both an airline pilot and as a broker. Sinclair commented: "I have established good relationships within the industry over the years, and this is a great new challenge for my self and Air Charter Service. This is the next step in the European growth of the company”.

ACS France plans to utilise the global network of offices that the group has, enabling Benjamin and his team to offer such advantages as empty leg charters – where an aircraft is available flying empty in one direction already - allowing the client to charter more efficiently, therefore saving them money. ACS’ offices span four continents and continue to win more and more business with their local knowledge, a trend that the Paris office intends to keep going.

ACS's managing director, Tony Bauckham, said of the new office: "Within our global strategy we have always had plans to open an office in France and it's very exciting to see those plans come to fruition. The French market is a large one, and, with a team now based in the country we are in a good position to further our already strong business there. We have opened two other new offices so far this year and we expect Paris to emulate their success".

Air Charter Service was founded in 1990, and currently turns over €180 million annually and it operates over 3000 charters per year on all types of aircraft. ACS’s offerings and service have proved so popular, that in a market considered to be shrinking by 25-30% so far in 2009, ACS has grown by around 20% in the first 6 months of the year, in both terms of numbers of charters, as well as overall revenue.

Air Charter Service has seen a marked increase in business in recent months with many customers citing the reason being the new payment protection plan that the commercial jet department offer.

The new scheme offers our clients financial peace of mind when booking charter flights on commercial jets. Jon Thompson, Commercial Sales Director, commented: “there has been a noticeable increase in the number of flights we have sold over the past three months, with many of the customers using the plan - in July we sold more than double the number of aircraft charters compared to last July”. He added: “the plan has been put in place to ensure that you have complete and total financial protection against airline failure by reason of insolvency. In these troubled economic times assurance that you have total fiscal protection means that you can book your aircraft charters with ACS safe in the knowledge that your money is fully protected”.

To learn more about the payment protection plan, please email the commercial team on: passenger@aircharter.co.uk

For all supertanker enquiries please email matthew.purton@aircharter.co.uk

Air Charter Service's account manager, Mark Garza, received a telephone call from a Sunday newspaper, the News of the World, last week asking for a flight to help commemorate probably one of the most significant days in history.

Almost 65 years to the day after the D-Day landings of World War II on June 6th 1944, the newspaper, with the help of ACS, took Richard Todd back to Normandy where he had been the first paratrooper to jump from an aircraft over the French province.

Just a few days short of his 90th birthday, Todd feared he may be too old to visit the site once more for the 65th anniversary. The News of the World decided to step in and charter an aircraft to transport Richard to France, and this is where ACS was able to help. On a Friday evening Mark was able to swiftly find a suitable PA34 to take Todd, and two of the newspaper’s reporters, across the Channel to the French airport of Caen in the early hours of Saturday morning.

Todd, however, is not best known for this, but in fact became a household name as a movie star in the 50s, 60s and 70s. He appeared in World War II inspired films such as The Dam Busters. Significantly for this trip, Todd re-enacted the D-Day scenes he took part in 18 years later when he appeared in the 1962 film The Longest Day playing his own commanding officer, Major John Howard. Strangely, someone else portrayed Todd in the film! 

Email the passenger team on passenger@aircharter.co.uk

UEFA Champions’ League Final day – May 27th 2009 –  was a busy one for Air Charter Service. A total of 19 commercial aircraft and a fleet of executive jets were organised by ACS to transport close to three and a half thousand Manchester United supporters to Rome, where the final was being held. Working with the official travel partner to Manchester United, ACS sourced aircraft not only for the fans, but also for the players’ families, VIPs, staff, executives, press and even the team themselves.

Planning travel arrangements started before most people had even thought about the final. Some Manchester United fans started phoning in with price and availability requests whilst still at Arsenal’s Emirates Stadium at half time in the second leg of the semi final. “Of course we were prepared for this” said Jon Thompson, Commercial Sales Director. “But the following morning was chaos!” he continued.

Manchester airport was obviously an exceptionally busy place on the day of the final, and it was a huge task to make sure everything ran to schedule, and to keep everyone happy. So ACS had five staff from their passenger department on the ground in both Manchester, and later in Rome, to make sure everything ran smoothly.

Thompson, along with Steve Huddlestone, Sports Manager, travelled to Rome the week before the final to have a meeting with the director of the airport to make sure everything went according to plan on the Italian side of things. Thompson commented that the whole operation was a “great success”, and added “it worked like clockwork – our attention to detail in the planning and preparation really paid off. We’ve done many charters for sports and football clubs in the past so we knew what we’re doing. We even go as far as liaising with the team’s nutritionist for the team’s special dietary requirements in the catering."

Unfortunately for everyone travelling on the aircraft that day, the actual football match did not turn out so favourable, as strikes from Samuel Eto’o and Lionel Messi saw Barcelona win the match 2-0.

As Britain is once again caught in the middle of a cold snap, the wintery conditions are playing havoc with all modes of transport.

Air Charter Service has said that the closure of many major UK airports – including London’s Gatwick – has led to an exceptional increase in the number of enquiries for private jets.

The company, which offers private charters on all sizes of aircraft, received floods of telephone calls from stranded passengers trying to find a way to get abroad, or indeed home to their loved ones.

Joel Fenn, Director Executive Jets at ACS’s London headquarters, said: “So many people have been calling asking if there is any way that we can get them to where they need to be. Luckily, some of the smaller private airports here in the UK have been easier to clear than larger ones and are open. Generally we’ve been able to help them out. Business men still have important meetings that they need to attend and, whilst it would be understood to miss a meeting due to extreme weather, some simply cannot wait.”

Of course there were similar conditions last Christmas, and it’s not only for business purposes that people needed to charter: “We made sure a family spent Christmas together when a gentleman from Monaco contacted us the day before Christmas Eve. His family had already spent over 6 hours waiting at Heathrow Airport before giving up and going home - so he called in late on the 23rd. Within an hour we had organised a Citation II jet to fly his family early on Christmas Eve morning from Farnborough airport out to the principality”, Fenn said.

“A lot of people calling in are realising that chartering small turboprop aircraft isn’t as expensive as they may have thought and are pleasantly surprised. No doubt we will get many more similar calls over the coming month or so as, whilst for some the snow causes merely an inconvenience, for others it will be a necessity to get to where they are scheduled to be.

Ever more popular is the use of empty legs, the secret to reduced rate private charter. When ACS has an aircraft going one way, it often needs to get back to its original location or home base. This is when the aircraft will fly empty, known as an ‘empty leg’. These empty legs are offered for a reduced cost, a saving of up to 75%, this makes the cost of private air travel even more competitive when looked at along side the cost of business class.

Empty legs are commonly used for:

• Fitting in with business travel arrangement
• Spontaneous weekend away – return scheduled
• Fly to your second home – return scheduled  

Air Charter Service has launched its empty leg service which, which matches clients’ preferred routes with empty legs. Whether it is taking a loved one on a surprise weekend away or fly to your second home just let ACS know and when a matching empty leg becomes available we will contact you.

Call +44 (0)20 8614 6299 to speak to an empty leg specialist who will help you find a suitable solution to fit your needs.

Click here to register for a weekly email of empty legs added in the past 7 days.

ACS is pleased to announce that not only has it been awarded an ‘outstanding’ 2 star accreditation from Best Companies but has also been named in the Sunday Times best SME to work for list which was published in March 2009.

Following a survey carried out by Best Companies of ACS staff, the company was scored on a range of factors including personal growth, feeling part of the company, pay and benefits and employee’s interest in and enjoyment of their jobs.

Following the rapid growth ACS has experienced in a highly competitive market, employees feel excited about where the company is going and the scores reflected that with an incredible 85% positive score in that category. Another notably high score included the training category where ACS received an 81% score and was named in the top 10 best companies for training in this weeks Sunday Times supplement.

Chris Leach, Chairman of the ACS group said,

“I am extremely proud to receive these official accreditations; however the most pleasing thing is the way our staff feels towards the company. I have always said that this is a ‘people’ business and the company has worked tirelessly to look after ‘our people’ over the years so for me this is just a fantastic testament to our management team.”

The two star accreditation places ACS as the highest ranking company in the aviation industry to appear in the 2009 Best companies guide.

Recently Hugo Smith, charter executive received a request for two King Air aircraft to take a party from Glasgow to Inverness. The customer was working on a tight budget and thought that it would be cheaper to have two smaller aircraft rather than one that could take the whole party.

The solution was to actually have a larger aircraft allowing all of the passengers to travel together. A Jet stream 41 was sourced which is a short haul commuter aircraft. The flight also included a flight attendant plus a champagne service.

Hugo Smith not only managed to find a suitable aircraft with an upgrade in service, but he also managed to come up with a solution that was significantly below the client’s available budget. Giving the client first rate air charter service at the right price, exceeding all expectations.

Contact the executive sales team on passenger@aircharter.co.uk

When a CEO of a large international metal company, missed his connecting flight from Terminal 5 London Heathrow to Düsseldorf his first thought was to call Air Charter Service. Passenger charter analyst Hugo Smith took the call at 10am local time (London), with the request to get the two passengers to Düsseldorf in as little time as possible.

In no time at all a Premier 1 was ready in Farnborough and the passengers were in a taxi organised by Air Charter Service to take them to the aircraft. One hour and forty minutes after receiving the phone call Air Charter Service London had the two passengers on an aircraft to Düsseldorf. Hugo rang ahead to the company collecting the passengers from the airport to take them to their meeting, with all the onward travel details to ensure a quick transition.

This urgent request required the passenger to be in Düsseldorf for an important meeting. Extensive knowledge and access to a large database, detailing the position of aircraft, ensured a suitable aircraft was found in the shortest possible time. The preparation of the documents whilst the passengers were in transit to the aircraft meant that they could sign them on their way through the terminal at Farnborough, allowing them to board the aircraft with no delay.

The client made his meeting, and was very happy with the quick response to his request and the organisation of funds and paperwork whilst they were travelling to the aircraft cutting down any delays.

Contact the passenger sales department

London@aircharter.co.uk

+44 (0) 20 8614 6299

Alex Sadat-Shafai passenger charter analyst at Air Charter Service received an urgent request to transport 5 passengers from east Midlands to Brest. Due to the Air Traffic Control (ATC) failure in the UK, many airports were experiencing delays. Within 10 Minutes of the request Alex had provided two offers for private charters.

The Midlands based company decided to accept an offer on a King Air 200. Forty two minutes later all of the relevant paperwork had been signed and the crew were at the aircraft ready to reposition to East Midlands Airport. 1hour 30 minutes later the aircraft was ready to depart with the passengers to deliver them on time to Brest.

The time scale given to organise this flight was particularly tight due to having to find an aircraft which could fly under the Visual Flight Rules (VFR). Due to the Air Traffic Control failure this was the only option to avoid delays in and around London; the passengers arrived at the destination with out delay. Air Charter Service’s extensive database of over 50,000 aircraft and the extensive training that each of their charter analyst receive enables quick reactions times for urgent flights.

Contact Alex Sadat-Shafai, passenger charter analyst by email

London@aircharter.co.uk

ACS passenger brokers from Moscow and Hong Kong brought their two teams together to ensure a VIP customer reached their destination ahead of schedule and without the hassle of endless hours in transit.  With just a week’s notice the solution from ACS came in the form of a Gulfstream 200, a nine seater mid-size executive jet, which was met by the passengers who were collected from the steps of their scheduled flight by two limousines. 

The initial enquiry was received from the PA of an esteemed Russian client who had been tasked with arranging flights between Moscow, Russia and Sanya, China via Hong Kong. He was particularly keen to reduce the transfer time from the scheduled flight into Hong Kong onto the next leg of the journey, so turned to ACS for a last minute jet charter solution. 

Mike Walsh, Director, ACS Hong Kong said:

“With only one week to plan the flight and our team preparing for the June 2nd opening of our Hong Kong office it was testament to the knowledge of our suppliers and regional contacts in the Asia-Pacific region that we were able to offer our Moscow office and their VIP client such an ideal solution.”

Andrey Gerasimov, a passenger broker at ACS Moscow, said:

“Working with our colleagues in Hong Kong meant that at 09:45am the scheduled flight arrived into Hong Kong from Moscow and was met by two awaiting limousines, barely half an hour later, at 10:20am, the party took off on the final leg of their journey to Sanya, China.” 

Contact the London sales team on +44 (0) 208 614 6299 or email us at passenger@aircharter.co.uk

Air Charter Service Plc (ACS), the worldwide passenger and cargo air charter broker, today announces the opening of its latest office in Hong Kong SAR, China.

ACS has positioned itself to benefit from the growing Asia-Pacific and Australasian market which has seen exceptional growth in private jet usage with official figures showing that since 2003 Hong Kong International Airport has seen steady year on year growth of between 35 and 40% in executive jet movements through it’s Business Aviation Centre, a trend which is set to continue throughout Asia.

Heading up the Asia-Pacific team is Mike Walsh with 12 years aviation experience, who has relocated from the firm’s London office and is to be supported by charter brokers, trained by ACS in London to handle both passenger and cargo enquiries. Yan Fang, Thomas Chan and Stephen Fernandez join the Hong Kong team bringing the languages needed to provide the highest levels of service, namely Cantonese, Mandarin, English and Korean. Soon to join the team is office manager Money Cheng who is also tri-lingual and has worked in aviation for five years with Chinese carriers.

Mike Walsh, Director, ACS Hong Kong said: "Serving the Asia-Pacific region from Hong Kong see’s the realisation of a long term dream for ACS and the opening of the office here has been driven by our analysis of customer demand. This is a huge opportunity for ACS and we have now secured a permanent office in the Central district of Hong Kong. Business in Hong Kong, China and the region in general is undertaken face-to-face so it was vital that we established a key team here in China.”

Tony Bauckham, Managing Director, ACS said: "This is a significant move for ACS, our established global offices network in London, New York, Dubai and Moscow have seen an overall increase in flights consisting of both passenger and cargo of  285% over the last four years and we know that by expanding our presence into Asia these growth figures will be sustained.”

Air Charter Service Plc (ACS), the worldwide passenger and cargo air charter broker, today announces its accreditation as “one to watch” from The Sunday Times’ Best 100 Companies to work for list. 

This accreditation is particularly pleasing, coming as it does in the first year in which the company has entered the survey. The survey, participated in by well over 400,000 employees of thousands of British companies, is widely considered to be the definitive guide to British employers and as such it is unusual for a company to achieve accreditation without first cooperating in the survey for a number of years.  

Accreditation offers the company a number of benefits. Firstly, there will be the kudos associated with being one of the very few, elite organisations carrying the accreditation logo. Accredited organisations will be able to use the logo and their star rating in their own marketing and recruitment activity. It will also appear in the Sunday Times’ annual ‘Best Companies Guide’. This book is marketed to a wide range of recruitment centres such as universities, libraries, careers offices, etc. as well as being available for purchase at leading book stores. The company will also be listed on the ‘Best Companies Accreditation’ website with their Best Companies Index score and star rating.  

Christopher Leach, Chairman of ACS said: "Given that our growth depends on staff retention with our Brokers contributing increasingly the longer they have been with us, we needed to institutionalise good employment practices to the point of excellence.
 
“Our brokers go through a rigorous training programme, that we believe is unrivalled in the industry, and makes them the industry’s best practitioners. 

“I felt that entering each year and working on the feedback results would be a way of growing as an employer, and systematically enhance staff retention. To narrowly miss being in the Sunday Times top 100 at our first attempt is absolutely amazing.”

Dave Heeley, who completed his recording breaking 777 feat; seven marathons, seven continents in seven days, on the 13th April 2008 to raise funds for The Guide Dogs for the Blind Association, turned to ACS to help him make this possible.



Dave Heeley, who has been registered blind since 1986 and has been running to raise funds for ‘Guide Dogs’ since 1999, travelled to the Falkland Islands in the Antarctic to start his first marathon at 00:01 GMT on Monday 7th of April and passed the finish line at 04:15. The whole team supporting Dave were then met by a Learjet 55 provided by ACS, to fly the 4 ½ hours to Rio de Janeiro in time to start the second marathon on Dave’s second continent. Dave was able to start at 13:38 GMT and completed his second marathon 4 hours and 45 minutes later.



Dave went on to complete five further Marathons in Los Angeles, Sydney, Dubai, Tunis and finally London to become one of only four to complete the gruelling challenge.



Mr Heeley commented:

“I am the first blind person to do this. It's been a fantastic adventure and one I'm going to talk about for a long time.”



Here at ACS we are proud to have been a part of such an incredible achievement and warmly congratulate Mr Heeley on successfully completing this remarkable feat.


Contact: Sam White passenger charter broker and team at London@aircharter.co.uk

When a family of four urgently needed to visit a relative abroad, ACS made sure they were airborne within 3 ½ hours of taking their first call. 

ACS’s client, who acted on behalf of the family, needed to organise a return flight between Scandinavia and the Canary Islands. ACS passenger broker, Matt Purton, acted quickly to secure the use of a Gulfstream G-IV, a luxury, long-haul aircraft, equipped to transport up to 14 passengers for the five hour flight. Purton commented:

“We could tell the customer needed to get to his destination urgently and we located the aircraft that was closest to him. We also chose a Gulfstream G-IV because the interior can be rearranged into double beds, which would allow the family to sleep and rest prior to their arrival in the Canary Islands."

Contact Matthew Purton, London based Passenger Broker and team London@aircharter.co.uk

On the 16th January 2008 ACS’ Moscow office received an urgent request for a private jet to be positioned at London Heathrow airport the very next day to take two passengers to Moscow’s international Sheremetyevo airport in Russia.

The businessmen were due to arrive in London on a flight from Africa but one of the passengers was unaware of the need for an entry visa into the UK to transit through the airport. ACS was able to obtain a permit to allow the passenger to transfer to the executive jet whilst the second passenger could travel through the immigration process and collect their luggage.

The passengers requested a one hour window between their flight from Africa arriving and the private jet departing to Moscow; landing permits at London Heathrow are extremely hard to negotiate. LHR is one of the busiest airports in the world and landing slots for small private aircraft are few and far between.

Sergey Vekhov, General Manager ACS Russia, said:

“It is testament to the hard work of the ACS team in Moscow that landing rights at London Heathrow airport, the third busiest airport in the world were secured at such short notice! The aircraft departed exactly on time and the businessmen were delighted with the service they had received from ACS.”

Contact: Passenger Sales team at london@aircharter.co.uk

With only one month to plan, ACS organised a seven leg trip from London Luton airport to several remote locations throughout Russia over a five day period in November 2007.

 

The majority of the tour was conducted in a luxurious Challenger 604 aircraft between the Russian provinces of Novosibirsk, Yekaterinburg, Kazan, Nizhny Novgorod and Krasnodar.  However, in order to reach the remote destination of Novorossiysk, ACS organised the use of an ex-Russian Military helicopter!  The group of eight investment bankers arrived back to the private airfield at Biggin Hill, London on November 23rd after a very successful trip.

 

One customer commented:

“Novorossiysk was off the beaten track as it were.  We needed a helicopter to reach the landing site, Malaya Zemliya, in the mountains which literally translates to ‘little hill’!  We were delighted with the service we received from ACS.”

 

Sam White, a Passenger Broker at ACS London, said:

“It’s great to work together as an international team.  By pooling the resources of both the London and Moscow office we had the level of expertise to make a specialist trip, such as this one, not just work but meet with 100% customer satisfaction as well.”

 

Contact: Sam White, London based Passenger Broker and team London@aircharter.co.ukr

Air Charter Service (‘ACS’), one of the leading names in passenger and cargo air chartering, today announces that it will be off-setting CO2 emissions generated by its worldwide offices purchased through The CarbonNeutral Company.

Through the programme, ACS will off-set emissions from its international operations which are predominantly generated through staff business travel, between its offices in London, New York, Moscow and Dubai. This is calculated at 1,543 tonnes of CO2 annually, by The Edinburgh Centre of Carbon Management.

ACS chose to partner with the CarbonNeutral Company because of its reputation, commitment to quality standard and transparency through PWC auditing its offset projects.

ACS has chosen to off-set its emissions by investing in the Waste Gas Power Project, a methane capture project in the Rhine-Ruhr area of Germany. The methane capture comes from three disused coal mines in the Rhine-Ruhr valleys in Germany where methane is still escaping from the open mine shafts. Methane is 21 times more polluting than CO2 and, when captured, can be used to generate electricity and heat for domestic use. Burning methane produces one molecule of CO2 and two molecules of water, greatly reducing the impact of the emissions.

Tony Bauckham, Managing Director of ACS, said:
“We are delighted to announce that we are off-setting our emissions from our worldwide operations through The CarbonNeutral Company. We are extremely conscious of the impact of CO2 on the environment and feel it is essential that we play our part in helping to tackle the issue, particularly with the large amount of business travel we have to do as a company.”

For many rugby fans, chartering a private jet to the Rugby World Cup Final (RWCF) to watch England would be a distant dream, however with tickets for the match changing hands at a fearsome rate and availability for scheduled services and Eurostar extremely limited, Air Charter Service (ACS) one of the leading names in passenger air chartering, found that their phones were ringing off the hook.

Groups of fans were booking aircraft enabling them to split the cost between them resulting in each seat costing significantly less that their tickets for the match.
The team in London had a real task on their hands to establish availability and book the jets for the many passengers ringing at the last minute, but once again the ACS team did not have to let a single customer down.

For one passenger, John Downes a Financier from Cheshire, ACS were able to help him realize an almost impossible dream. On Saturday 6th October 2007 England played Estonia in the crucial Euro 2008 football qualifier at Wembley; that very same afternoon England fought for their place in the RWCF against France and with the winning cheers still ringing in his ears John left Wembley on a Virgin courier bike and flew from Luton out to Paris in time for the World Cup match at the Stade de France.

Gavin Copus, Senior Passenger Sales Manager at ACS said.

“We have seen sports fans looking to secure last minute travel to significant matches spending more to take a private jet to avoid the zoo of scheduled travel. Our team did a fantastic job accommodating the needs of our customers at very short notice in the run up to the semi final and final of the Rugby World Cup “

Contact: Gavin Copus Senior Passenger Sales Manager and team at london@aircharter.co.uk

 When the PA to the chairman of a leading International food firm needed a personalised itinerary for travel around the USA he turned to ACS to look after his very specific needs.

The client, who arrived into Newark on a Silverjet service, was directly met by a Learjet in the executive terminal to continue his journey.  On his behalf, ACS chartered flights to Fort Collins, Chicago Midway, Springdale municipal and back to Newark to meet his return flight with Silverjet.  By using the exclusive Learjet, the team at ACS were able to schedule flights, and make use of municipal airfields to completely suit the client’s needs and ensure absolute punctuality and convenience during his trip.  They were also able to organise car transfers to and from the Learjet when needed.

Joe Websper, passenger charter broker at ACS said:

“Everything went to plan with no delays, despite dreadful weather in the New York and Chicago areas!  We were able to look into alternative airports when the weather was poor where as airliners were suffering huge delays arriving into international airports.

“In February 2008, ACS provided a similar service for a group of holiday makers celebrating a birthday weekend.  Seven couples took a scheduled flight to Miami where they were transferred to their own private jet.  The service enabled the party to reach Necker Island, the private Caribbean retreat owned by Richard Branson, smoothly and without any unnecessary delays”

Contact: Joe Websper, passenger charter broker ACS and team at london@aircharter.co.uk

Air Charter Service (ACS) one of the leading names in cargo and passenger air chartering, organised a Boeing 737-200 to carry a group of 19 passengers from Dubai (DXB), UAE to Sana’a (SAN), Yemen on Sunday 23rd September to sign a deal for a Nuclear Power project. And all this was successfully achieved with just three days notice.
The project to fund five nuclear power reactors over the next 10 years is estimated at a cost of $15 billion, and aims to generate electricity and desalinate sea water in order to meet the needs of Yemen’s growing urban population and boost the country's industrial development.
The VIP passengers included American and Canadian investors who had originally requested the use of a Boeing Business Jet (BBJ), but due to the limited notice given an alternative aircraft had to be found.

Dmitriy Korshunov, General Manager of ACS Dubai commented:
“The customer was looking for a particular executive aircraft, but due to the extremely short notice the requested BBJ was unavailable. ACS continually monitors in excess of 50,000 aircraft worldwide, so we were able to more than satisfactorily cater for our customer’s needs by recommending the B737-200, which they were delighted with.”

Not only was the flight a complete success, ACS additionally on request provided an exceptional VIP arrival and departure service, which is convenient and can be arranged for groups of any size.

ACS prides itself on quality service with great flexibility to suit the customers’ needs. Once again ACS was able to deliver a full service and leave another of their valued customers satisfied.

Contact the ACS team at london@aircharter.co.uk

Air Charter Service Plc (ACS), the worldwide passenger and cargo air charter broker, today announces the appointment of Christopher Foyle as a Non-Executive Director to the Board of ACS with effect from September 1st 2007.

Christopher Foyle is a name synonymous with aviation, having worked in the industry for over 30 years. He created Air Foyle Ltd in 1977, an executive air charter company which over time became a cargo airline operating a fleet of heavy cargo aircraft. Christopher is currently Chairman of Foyles Bookshop as well as holding a number of senior positions within the aviation industry, including being Chairman of the Air League, a Trustee and Board Member of TIACA (The International Air Cargo Association) and Chairman of the British Cargo Airline Alliance (BCAA).

Christopher Foyle’s appointment is the third recent Board level hire as 2006 saw the arrival of Tony Bauckham, Managing Director and Stewart Pitt, Finance Director. Tony and Stewart bring with them many years of experience from Volga-Dnepr Group and Evergreen International Airlines, BA and the London Stock Exchange respectively. 

Christopher Leach, Chairman of ACS said:

“We are delighted to welcome Christopher Foyle onto our Board. This is an exciting time for ACS as we expand our network of offices from New York, Dubai, Moscow and London into the Far East and beyond. Christopher’s expertise in the aviation industry will be an invaluable asset to our Board as we continue to grow our business over the next few years.”

Christopher Foyle, Non-Executive Director of ACS said:

"I am delighted to be joining ACS as a Non-Executive Director. I have known and respected  its principals for many years and since ACS's small beginnings have watched it grow into one of the fastest growing and most successful forces in the UK and international aviation charter and support sector and it is continuing to expand strongly. 

“I am particularly impressed with the dynamism and motivation of its staff, their expertise and their blend of professionalism and commercial acumen. I am very much looking forward to joining the Board and making my contribution."

Executives from, one of Scotland’s 100 largest companies, chartered a private jet from Aberdeen to attend the launch of a ship in San Sebastian last month. The Aberdeen based company has a shipping arm with a fleet of offshore support vessels, predominantly serving the North Sea.

The journey would have taken the executives fifteen hours had they used scheduled flights, as opposed to the two and half hour direct flight from Aberdeen that ACS was able to arrange for them, saving considerable time. For senior company Executives the ability to decrease the amount of time spent traveling is seen as a significant cost saving and enables them to spend more time in the office.

Passenger charter analyst at ACS, Joe Websper, said:

“The customer’s immediate thought was to call ACS for this flight as they knew we could provide a service at very short notice that would be tailor made to their needs. We were asked to look for an aircraft on 24th September, booked the flights on the 25th and they flew the next day.

 “We chartered a Citation Excel for the team, a medium size executive jet that suited the flight and passengers perfectly and they were able to use the executive terminal at Aberdeen.”

Contact Joe Websper, Passenger Sales Co-Ordinator at ACS and team at london@aircharter.co.uk

A Silverstone British Grand Prix will draw crowds of 100,000 people, many of whom will want to avoid the inevitable train delays and motorway congestion out of London which often accompanies such a popular event – our perfect solution, a helicopter charter from Central London’s only heliport – Battersea.

Our regular clients are used to experiencing the best service, flights that are chartered well in
advance as well as last minute solutions operated with absolute precision. The British Grand Prix of the 7th and 8th July 2007 left ACS with a large number of helicopter charters to book into slots out of Battersea, which are like gold dust and into Silverstone which operates a strictly ‘subject to slots’ operation so the ACS team had to find slots that corresponded with both locations.

Andrew Summers, Passenger Charter Analyst, ACS said:
“Helicopters were sourced matching each client’s exact requirements for both the qualifying on
Saturday and race day on Sunday. At ACS we offer each and every client the best possible service but when the stakes are so high with regular customers requiring aircraft for a time when slots are so hard to come by it makes our team go the extra mile. I am proud of the way we handled each and every charter this weekend and our 100% on time record meant that all our customers were completely satisfied.”

Contact: Andrew Summers and Joel Fenn, Passenger Charter Analysts at london@aircharter.co.uk

Air Charter Service (ACS), the worldwide passenger and cargo air charter broker, today announces the appointment of Dmitriy Korshunov as Middle Eastern General Manager with effect from July 1st 2007. He will be based at the company’s Dubai office. 

Dmitriy Korshunov has extensive experience in aviation management and has spent the last six years in marketing with Aerovista (U.A.E), the last four of which have been as Director of Sales and Marketing. 

ACS Dubai was launched 16 months ago and has developed at such a pace that it necessitated a move to a larger office within a year of opening. During the first six months of 2007, the office booked twice as many flights as in the previous 12 month period. ACS is in the process of expanding its broker staff in Dubai to cope with the business it has and to develop further.  

ACS Dubai charters flights for customers from all over the world and operates 24 hours a day, seven days a week together with the offices in London, New York and Moscow monitoring the whereabouts of over 50,000 aircraft worldwide.

Tony Bauckham, Managing Director of ACS said:“We are delighted that Dmitriy has joined our team. ACS is in a phase of global expansion and Dubai is a large part of that. His expertise in the Middle Eastern market is second to none, and this combined with the new and existing Brokers on the team will continue to make ACS Dubai a strong force on the market.” 

Dmitriy Korshunov, General Manager for ACS Middle East said:“ACS has already made its name in Europe, the USA, Russia and now in the Middle East. The growth potential in the Middle Eastern region is enormous and we will continue building our relationship with clients and partners in the GCC states, Africa and Asia. I am really looking forward to working with the team to continue to develop the ACS proposition.”

During May, June and July this year the music industry and its fans have enjoyed some brilliant shows such as The Big Weekend, T in the Park, Naas Oxegen Festival , Live Earth and of course Glastonbury with each event welcoming one or more ACS charter.

Given the music industry is a primary market for ACS, the infamous summer festivals and
beginnings of World and European tours have kept ACS on their toes delivering some of the world’s best selling artists to countless shows so far. Unsurprisingly, ACS was called upon to charter a variety of executive jets and helicopters for the artists headlining some of the biggest festivals in Europe.

With ACS's expertise at choosing the ideal aircraft types, one of the charters involved a unique 19 seat helicopter to get the artists as close as possible to the crowded festival sites, avoiding the traffic and getting them on stage on time. Some of these flights have been planned since the beginning of the year, with countless changes and updates - some enquiries were even received within 24 hours of being airborne! No matter the timeframe to get the bands in the air, ACS have continue to provide the winning service that ensures the crowds see their favourite artists perform.

Production Manager for a best selling number 1 artist said:
“Despite having worked with other brokers on music charters, ACS has proven to be the most
professional, delivering unbeatable service 24/7. Finding a supplier who fully understands the
demands and often temperamental nature of this industry is difficult, however working with ACS has proven that their dedicated Account Management is 100% tuned in with what we need. I would not contemplate going back to work with anyone else.”

Carmen Vanegas, Passenger Sales Manager, ACS said:
“Having specialised in VIP and music charters, I find that arranging these flights can be rather like a complex jigsaw puzzle with the added pressure of a tight schedule. Our team has the resources and experience to help the bands put together all the pieces of the puzzle within some very tight deadlines and budgets! In the end when the customer is happy there is a great sense of satisfaction among the team. Despite the bad weather this summers’ music festivals have been tremendous fun and a great success for ACS.”

Contact: Carmen Venegas, Passenger Sales Manager and team at london@aircharter.co.uk

With thousands of fans descending on the small islands that make up the West Indies, the local security forces needed some outside help. Assistance arrived from all over the world with forces from each of the 16 competing nations sending representatives. Due to the nature of some of their equipment and the difficulty in getting large groups on the same scheduled flight, a private aircraft charter provided the perfect solution.

One of Air Charter Service’s account managers, Tim Rees, was contacted to arrange such a charter to take 75 passengers and 5 tonnes of equipment from South Africa to Granada, with a strict schedule and a stricter budget. Tim quickly got to work finding the most cost effective charter solution. A larger aircraft would have flown direct, however with only 75 passengers this would not have been financially viable. So Tim sourced a Boeing 737-800 to take the passengers to Granada with quick fuel stops in Libreville and Sal all within the budget dictated by the client. Tim recalls,

“Due to the long sectors over water we needed an aircraft not only with the range required but also the legal requirement of an ETOPS certification and the 737-800 I sourced had both. It was the best aircraft for the job and despite high demand I managed to secure it for the dates required.”

Tim was on hand to make sure everything went smoothly and to answer any questions there may have been on the day. Being a cricket fan, Tim was more than happy to do his bit to ensure the World cup was a fantastic event for all involved.

Contact: Passenger Sales team at london@aircharter.co.uk

Picture this: 300 people, located in different parts of the UK, all need to attend an event in southern France. Do you really believe that any airline will have scheduled flights departing and returning at convenient times, with that many empty seats? If you do, you might also consider that these people have to be made to feel special.

This was the scenario facing Joel Fenn, ACS passenger charter executive, recently. Schneider Electric, the globally respected manufacturer, was hosting its annual company event in Nice. It needed 300 of its UK staff to attend, to help with serving the 4,000 potential customers it was expecting from across Europe.

Joel arranged for flights from Manchester and Luton, on separate Boeing 737 aircraft - one of which was brand new, making its first commercial flight. Schneider's staff received personalised ticket envelopes, were greeted by special signs at check-in and boarded their aircraft to find that even the head-rest covers carried the Schneider branding. Departure times were arranged to suit the customer, with high-quality catering enhancing the journey. For the return flights, the Schneider personnel were treated to more top-class food and drinks in their own reserved room at Nice airport, before taking off again in style.

Contact: Joel Fenn Passenger Charter Analyst and team at london@aircharter.co.uk

It was a typical English winter's day when 38 people turned up at Farnborough: overcast, gloomy and not notably warm. There was, however, anticipation and curiosity in the air. Even top managers from a global leader become a little excited at the prospect of a mystery trip.

Tim Rees, passenger charter analyst, had ensured that the events company booking the trip had everything it required, which meant keeping the destination a complete secret from the passengers. While they enjoyed a champagne reception in the private lounge, one or two did try to quiz the ground staff, but - as with everybody else capable of giving away the secret - they had been thoroughly briefed.

They boarded a Bombardier CRJ200 regional jet, only to find that the crew would happily answer any of their questions except 'the big one.' It was, therefore, still a complete surprise a little over three hours later when the VIPs landed and emerged into the warmth of Marrakesh. Discretion is an everyday attitude within Air Charter Service so, while this level of secrecy is a little beyond the norm, keeping the secret was never a problem.

Contact: Passenger Sales Team at london@aircharter.co.uk

When you plan a special event, everything about it has to be special. Carmen Vanegas, senior charter analyst, happily agreed when a customer said this to her recently. He intends to celebrate his 50th birthday by hosting a weekend party in Venice for his closest friends and family, but was finding his plans blocked by commercial carriers.

"He wants the whole party to fly together," explains Carmen, "but, even with months of advance notice, the airlines are unable to help. Although his birthday is not until June, everyone is already saying that they just do not have the seats available at the right times. It should be a celebration, but was beginning to turn into a nightmare."

The gentleman was equally unhappy at the thought of arranging the logistics for his guests to travel to different airports, taking different flights and not arriving at the same time. Knowing that everyone would have to check-in two hours before departure, then queue for baggage collection in Venice, was also a dispiriting prospect.

He liked Carmen's answer - and a booking was swiftly confirmed. The customer will meet all of his guests at the exclusive, newly refurbished London Farnborough Airport. They will have a terminal to themselves, where drinks and refreshments will be available during the 30 minutes between check-in and take-off.

Once aboard their stylish, 46-seat Canadair Regional Jet, they will enjoy a three-course "Business Class" style meal, before arriving in Venice. Upon arrival, bags will be off-loaded immediately, so that everyone will be leaving the airport within just 30 minutes of arrival. The return journey will be equally smooth, helping to ensure a hassle-free party for all concerned.

Contact: Passenger Sales Team at london@aircharter.co.uk

If you were in charge of catering for an airline, what would be your worst nightmare? High on the list might be an aircraft full of world-class chefs, all waiting to see what you are going to serve them. Fortunately for Matt Purton, in the ACS London office, this was not a problem when Practical Travel Agents contacted him to arrange just such a flight.

The Icelandic Chefs Association needed to get to Lyons for the International Chef of the Year competition. As well as their competing chefs, they wanted to take guests and well-wishers. With approaching 150 people all travelling together, scheduled flights would not have been an attractive option even if it had been feasible.

Matt arranged for the party to fly to Lyons and back in their own Boeing 737-800, cutting out check-in delays and waiting times and ensuring that take-off times were convenient for the Association and its supporters. As for the catering, everybody was thrilled by the standard of the in-flight menu: ACS happily arranged to take delivery, store, load and serve food prepared by ... members of the Icelandic Chefs

Contact: Matt Purton Passenger Sales Manager and team at london@aircharter.co.uk

Air Charter Services Senior Charter Analyst Carmen Vanegas flew a series of 5 return flights to Munster from various destinations around the UK.

With up to 50 pax on each flight Carmen really had a huge job on her hands. The flights were for an international agricultural event, chartered from a British based customer and took over two months of planning.

The specialist aircraft used for these flights was a Saab 2000-Regional Turboprop, and with every flight going exactly to plan, both customer and passengers were delighted with the service they received.

Air Charter Service provided flexible flight schedules allowing the trip to run smoothly and swiftly without the executives having to worry about missing flights. The company thanked the New York office for the fantastic service and informed them the flights were a great success.

As specialists in charter travel, and with offices in London, New York, Moscow and Dubai, Air Charter Service works round the clock to provide an unrivalled, fast response whether for the individual executive or large groups.

Contact: Passenger Sales Team at london@aircharter.co.uk

Air Charter Service's London office arranged a private aircraft charter for a party of ex-professional football players, TV football pundits and press reporters to fly down to Sardinia for a two day golfing break last month.

The aircraft charter was requested by a big sports sponsor client who was treating the VIP group, which included Sky and BBC presenters, to an all expenses paid trip to play one of Europe's best courses.

Andy Christie, who specialises in sports event flights, laid on a Saab 2000 commuter turboprop aircraft for the charter from London to Sardinia. The Saab 2000 aircraft allowed the celebrity party to fly as a single group, and the use of VIP airport terminals kept the group away from the chaos of busy airports.

Contact: Andy Christie Senior Charter Analyst and team at london@aircharter.co.uk

Air Charter Service's sports charter specialist Andy Christie was this month delighted to be asked to arrange a helicopter charter for a prominent member of the England football team the day after the Euro 2008 qualifier against Macedonia.

The star was needed for a promotional event in central London so his agents requested a helicopter to pick him up from his clubs training ground on the outskirts of the city and fly him directly to the Battersea, South London.

Andy arranged for an AS-355 Twin Squirrel to fly the player high above the traffic gridlock down below. In a helicopter with a capable cruise speed of 224 km/h the flight was completed within minutes and the star was transferred to the event by limousine.

For more information on chartering a helicopter contact Air Charter Service.

Contact: Andy Christie Senior Charter Analyst and team at london@aircharter.co.uk

With winter only just round the corner we thought now the perfect time to announce our new partnership with Elemental Adventure - specialists in providing customised heliskiing packages to some of the most exciting destinations around the world - including Canada, Alaska, Russia, Turkey and Greenland.

The role of Elemental Adventure is to provide you with the experience that you want, tailor made to your requirements and taking care of the planning of your trip down to the last detail.

In order to minimise time spent travelling and maximise your time on the snow, Air Charter Service can arrange for your private aircraft to take you directly to your destination with speed and comfort. With so many destinations only a short flight from your local airport an exclusive weekend heliskiing becomes both easy and practical.

Whether you are an experienced skier looking to pioneer first descents in the Himalayas, or a confident intermediate who has never been heliskiing before; Elemental Adventure and Air Charter Service make it happen with minimum planning and hassle on your behalf.

Visit www.eaheliskiing.com for more information on heliskiing.

Air Charter Service have seen a sharp rise in demand for private charters since August's terror alert as VIP and executive travellers try to avoid crowded airports and scheduled flight security scares. The dramatic rise in business came during what is usually the slowest time of year for private aircraft charters.

The new security measures and flight delays caused serious difficulties for the business community, with routes to key European cities and transatlantic destinations heavily affected at the height of the problems.

In addition to business traffic, executives who normally hired private jets only for business trips were using them for family vacations as well.

Gavin Copus, passenger sales manager at Air Charter Service, revealed that his team had been working around the clock with business almost double the normal levels for August due to the scare.

He added: "Executives and their families feel reassured by the reliability and security that companies such as ours can offer, which is why we have seen such demand in recent weeks."

Contact Air Charter Service to charter a private aircraft

Air Charter Service's VIP sales team were recently able to enjoy a familiarisation flight on an 18 seat Boeing Business Jet from London to New York. The aircraft had originally been chartered into London by a royal guest and needed to reposition to New York for another flight.

A group of twelve Air Charter Service brokers from the London and New York offices were given the chance to fly on this most famous of VIP aircraft. Familiarisation trips are so valuable as they give the brokers first hand experience of the product they are selling, allowing them to better serve their clients.

The BBJ - a modern, ultra-luxurious version of the Boeing 737-700 - is considered to be at the absolute top-end of the VIP market - essentially a full scale self contained home and business centre, complete with meeting room, dining room and a bedroom for the passengers.

Contact:  Passenger Sales Team at london@aircharter.co.uk

Air Charter Service have played an important role in both evacuating foreign nationals and transporting aid cargo to Lebanon as the crisis in the Middle East unfolds. Large scale operations continue in order to help alleviate the suffering of civilians caught up in the conflict.

Air Charter Service's passenger department arranged four MD-82 charters from Larnaca carrying a total of 646 Scandinavian evacuees back to their homeland. The flights were completed within 24 hours of receiving the request.

In the first three weeks of the crisis Air Charter Service's cargo department have also been involved in flying relief aid to the region. As the aid effort got underway ACS arranged five AN-12 charters with cargo of food and essential goods into Larnaca (LCA).

With new aid routes now opening up ACS are also working on charters into other airports including Damascus (DAM) - where an ACS chartered DC-8 has delivered a consignment of relief goods from Copenhagen (CPH).

Air Charter Service took its clients up the river in style this month. The river in question was the River Thames, where ACS had charted Raven's Ait, a leafy island right in the middle of this famous stretch of water, and converted it into the Wild West for the evening.

ACS Managing Director Chris Leach said a big 'thank you' was due to all those who made the past two years a success period for the company - and that included its clients, staff, 'The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly', service providers - and even the media.

Guests were treated to live country and western music, entertainers and line dancing on tap for the 200 guests, and a 'Clint Eastwood' lookalike. They feasted on a dinner of ribs, barbeque chicken wings, corn and more while card sharps, knife throwers, stilt-walkers and a guitar and banjo duo entertained the revellers.

Contact:  Passenger Sales Team at london@aircharter.co.uk

Air Charter Services Senior Charter Analyst, Ros Shergold jumped into action and arranged a last minute trip on an Embraer 120 aircraft for some avid Australian football fans who work for a large asset management company in London, to watch Australia v Italy on Monday 26th July.

Despite a tight time schedule Ros even managed to arrange 5 star hospitality onboard the 20 passenger aircraft and secured a VIP coach to transfer the passengers from Saarbrucken Airport to the Kaiserslautern Stadium. The company thanked Ros for the fantastic service and enjoyed the trip despite the disappointment of Australia losing what proved a very close game.

Air Charter Service's Dornier 328 propeller aircraft (pictured right) has also proved a resounding success with fans travelling to the World Cup in Germany, notching up 9 charters before the quarter final stage.

The 31 seat aircraft, based in the UK , has proved especially popular with corporate groups travelling to the biggest games. Other key players involved in Air Charter Service's World Cup campaign have included Citation, Challenger 604, Hawker 800 and Fokker 50 aircraft.

Contact Air Charter Service for more information on chartering aircraft to sporting events.

With summer holidays in full swing Air Charter Service flew a top city banker and his family to Palma De Mallorca on a Citation Excel for a yacht holiday. However, in a problem all too common for business executives, the office called during the break and urgently required the banker for an important meeting.

The PA for the banker called Air Charter Service again to see if they could get him to the meeting in Frankfurt quickly and without fuss so as to cause minimal disruption to the holiday.

Gavin Copus and Joel Fenn immediately provided a Citation II aircraft to whisk the banker to Frankfurt, where at the VIP terminal the banker was able to change into a business suit his PA had made available for the meeting.

Following a successful meeting and business dinner in Frankfurt the banker was able to return to the waiting private jet and fly straight back to Palma De Mallorca to join his family on the yacht.

and CaribbeanWay. Luxury Retreats are an elite travel provider specializing in luxury villa rentals and yacht charters throughout the world.

Their villa and yacht destinations include Italy, France, Greece, Morocco, South Africa and many more. The company individually select each of their 1300 villa properties in order to offer their guests the finest vacation experiences in the world.

CaribbeanWay is the sister company to Luxury Retreats and a world leader in Caribbean luxury vacation rentals, offering the villa experience to discerning travelers. Their portfolio includes more than 900 villas in over 30 destinations throughout the Caribbean, Mexico, Central America and Hawaii.

For more information visit either www.luxuryretreats.com or www.caribbeanway.com

Air Charter Service recently had the opportunity of flying the music band Razorlight and Record Company officials who were performing to Radio 1's Big Weekend in Camper Down Park, Dundee. The production team called Carmen Vanegas in the build up to the event to request the charter for the stars who were working to a tight schedule.

Carmen from the London office Sourced a 48 seat VIP Canadair Regional Jet, striking the perfect chord with the stars who were looking for a luxurious and relaxing flight before the gig.

Timing was crucial and everything was scheduled to match the bands slot at the show. The flight time from Luton to Dundee was just 1 hour on this VIP jet so the group arrived perfectly fresh for their performance.

Razorlight put on a great show before returning to the waiting aircraft for the flight back to Luton.

In addition to the Razorlight charter, Air Charter Service's Music Broker Carmen also recently arranged another charter for an infamous rock star to a concert in Berlin.

The star contacted Air Charter Service requiring an immediate flight for a gig. Carmen Vanegas supplied a Premier 1 jet for the star who made it to the venue and delighted fans who had waited patiently for a number of hours.

Contact Carmen Vanegas for more information on VIP charter flights

Last month Air Charter Service's executive charter broker Mark Garza received an urgent request from a client late on Sunday looking to charter a private aircraft for a member of a Middle Eastern royal family. The VIP passenger was looking to fly to Paris for an exclusive function that very evening.

Despite the short notice Mark was able to secure a Beechcraft KA200 turbo propeller aircraft seating 8 passengers and it was ready to go within hours of receiving the request.

The aircraft was quickly positioned for boarding before the royal party arrived at Stapleford Airport. Within minutes the aircraft was in the sky and on its way to Paris Le Bourget where limousines waited to take the guests to the event. The red carpet was also rolled out the following day for the return flight back to London.

Contact any of our brokers 24/7 for more information on VIP charter flights.

Another major UK automotive manufacturer has called upon Air Charter Service to provide them with a charter to assist a new product launch in Turkey . The company were delighted with both the CRJ 200 regional jet provided and the use of new VIP facilities at Farnborough.

Ros Shergold handled the group charter, offering the CRJ 200 which is ideal for moving small to medium sized parties at a very economical cost.

Air Charter Service also arranged to route the private charter flight out of Farnborough to make use of it's brand new VIP terminal facility which has only just opened.

The manufacturer was able to further brand the trip with the help of Ros by placing one of the brand new car models at the entrance to the new terminal.

Contact Ros for more information on group charters.

It is months before the first ball is even kicked, but the build up to the FIFA World Cup 2006 is already reaching fever pitch with as many as 95,000 England fans alone planning to travel to Germany during the competition.

With Germany only a short flight away the tournament is ideal for fans and corporate guests looking for a day trip only, and chartering a private aircraft makes that a very real option.Air Charter Service are seeing high demand for their services, as reported in national newspapers such as The Times.

The charter boom is in large part due to their status as a leading provider of private air charters to sporting events.

Included in the aircraft available throughout the World Cup is a Dornier 328 operating exclusively for Air Charter Service. The aircraft, based in the UK , offers quality leather seating for up to 31 passengers and has already received bookings from numerous corporate groups.

In the build-up to the holiday break Air Charter Service's group charter specialist Sam Wood was able to provide a Beech 1900 regional turboprop aircraft to help a group of oil workers make it home in time to see their families for Christmas.

Despite having a well earned holiday in the pipeline, the workers based in Angola were finding it impossible to find a scheduled service out of their remote location.

However, Sam Wood was at hand to arrange a slick charter operation to ensure the workers would not be disappointed. She was able to source a Beech 1900 to fly the workers from an airfield near their base to Lanseria , South Africa.

From Lanseria the delighted workers were able to pick up scheduled services to their home cities in time for the holiday season.

Dubai , U.A.E. The London based charter company - who already boast other centres of excellence in New York and Moscow - were granted an official trade licence by the Dubai Airport Free Zone Authority (DAFZA) earlier this month.

The Dubai office location promises to further enhance Air Charter Service's global reach and was welcomed by both clients and suppliers.

Air Charter Service FZCo will be headed by Peter Sheppard - Director of Middle East Operations - who will lead a team of highly experienced charter brokers at the new office situated within the Dubai Airport Free Zone.

Group Chairman Chris Leach revealed: "Due to Air Charter Service's dramatic growth it has been a strategic plan to open a Middle East office for sometime - and we are delighted with the choice of Dubai"

He added: "We have found the authorities very professional to deal with and we have high expectations for the future"

For more information contact the Dubai office.

Air Charter Service's Moscow office has relocated to larger new offices in the city to further facilitate the growth that the company has experienced in recent years. The new office will allow for the addition of further brokers to the team.

The new office is situated in a prestigious complex on the carriageway dubbed 'Putin Road' due to the fact many of Russia's business elite and ministers use the road to travel to work each day from the west of the city.

The office is also conveniently located on the blue metro line, between Krylaskoe and Molodezhnaya stations.

For the full address and contact details visit www.aircharter.ru