Current news

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 3 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.

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.