ACS launches 'empty leg' service

Air Charter Service is proud to announce the launch of its new empty leg service. This new service matches 'empty legs' against the clients' most frequently used routes.

Whether you would like to take a loved one on a surprise weekend away, or fly to your second home, just let us know and when a matching empty leg becomes available we will contact you.

Click here to tell us your favourite routes

An ‘empty leg’ occurs when an aircraft repositions and would be flying empty to its destination. If the route is suited to your schedule you could save up to 75% on the charter price.

Empty legs are commonly used for:

• Fitting in with business travel arrangements
• Spontaneous weekend away – return via scheduled service
• Fly to your second home - return via scheduled service

You also have the option to sign up for our weekly empty leg email which includes all routes added over the last 7 days. This is a great 'no hassle' way of staying up to date with the latest empty legs.

Simply click here to sign up.

If you are a flexible flyer, ACS’ new empty leg service could offer you excellent savings without compromising on the details that matter such as style and luxury.

ACS shines out at EIBTM

Air Charter recently exhibited at EIBTM in Barcelona, giving them an excellent opportunity to showcase their ever expanding expertise in the commercial charter market.

A team of five ACS account managers attended the meetings and incentives exhibition including a representative from the Bilbao office which opened in August 2008. The exhibition proved to be very successful allowing ACS to showcase the services that we can offer clients.

Air Charter Service will be exhibiting again in December 2009 at EIBTM.

View the full story here

You can contact an account manger at passenger@aircharterservice.es

Gavin Copus touches down in Hong Kong to become CEO- Asia Pacific

Gavin Copus formerly passenger sales director of ACS London is taking his vast experience of the aviation industry across the world to take up the position of general manager Asia Pacific for ACS’ Hong Kong Office.

Starting at Interflight aviation over 15 years ago, Gavin has learned the aviation industry intimately. Learning his trade initially dealing with private jet flights out of Biggin hill airport, Gavin then went on to work for Monarch Airlines, Air partner plc and now ACS. Known for his attention to detail and passion for pulling out all the stops for clients, Gavin personally trained and monitored ACS account managers to reach the highest standards of customer service. Gavin’s knowledge of the aviation market is truly global and is respected by airlines and customers alike.

We wish him all the best and by taking his knowledge and experience over to Hong Kong we know that our clients will benefit from his dedication.


Click here to view the story

Contact the Hong Kong Passenger Sales Team passenger@aircharter.com.hk

Naught to Düsseldorf in 1hr 40 minutes

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.

Click here to read more

Contact the passenger sales department

London@aircharter.co.uk

+44 (0) 20 8614 6299

ACS recieves 'People Development Award'

ACS is delighted to announce that it has been accredited with the ‘People Development Award’ by IFW, an award voted for by industry professionals, the publications Editor and which is hotly contested by our industry peers.

This award comes just two months after The Sunday Times officially recognised ACS as ‘one to watch’ in their ‘Best 100 Companies to work for’ list.

ACS train every one of their brokers in London irrespective of whether their final destination is going to be in the UK, Dubai, Moscow, New York or Hong Kong. The universal training ensures that all ACS brokers are trained to the same high standards.

Tony Bauckham, Managing Director of ACS said: “Employee development is at the forefront of ACS’ ongoing plans for the future; each employee is moulded, nurtured and valued and as their career progresses and is given a wide choice on what external training courses they would like to undertake, with ACS’ financial support. We are thrilled with this award as it clearly demonstrates our commitment to our staff and our future.”

Christopher Leach, Chairman of ACS said: “Given that our continued growth relies on our staff retention with our brokers contributing increasingly the longer they are with us, we have institutionalised best practice training and development practices to the point of excellence.”

Will Waters, awards judge and Executive Editor of IFW said: “ACS showed clear evidence of its commitment to thorough training and continued improvement of its staff. It clearly outlined the important difference that exists between just training staff and encouraging lifelong learning.

“The judges were impressed by the best practice awards that it offered its staff and by how it empowered staff to seek out additional training. It also offered an innovative mentoring system involving all of the company from the boardroom to the shop floor.”

For more info click here

Air Charter Service opens Asia office in Hong Kong

Last May we opened our fifth office in Hong Kong. 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.”

For more new click here

Charter for sports celebrity golf break

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.

Football star choppers in for promotional event

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.

Private charter demand continues following terror scare

London based 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 has come during what is usually the slowest time of year for private jet charters. Business at Air Charter Service remains around double what the normal level is for the time of year.

The new security measures and flight delays in August 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. Despite the worst of the problems passing the boom in business appears to be continuing.

Chartering a private jet proves so popular with executives because it allows them to conduct their business overseas with greater flexibility, with no need to worry about a missed flight or an overnight stay if a meeting runs on later than expected. It allows the executives to turn up to the closest airport moments before take-off rather than wasting time with lengthy check-in arrangements and delayed flights.

Since the terror scare the most in demand European destinations are financial hubs such as Zurich and luxury holiday destinations including Nice and Olbia. A return flight from London to Nice on a 7-seat Citation Bravo costs approximately £9,000.

The company are also seeing substantially increased business to transatlantic destinations including New York, Chicago and LA. A return charter from London to New York on a Gulfstream IV aircraft costs approximately £50,000 with a two night stopover.

Gavin Copus, passenger sales manager at Air Charter Service, revealed that his team had been working around the clock with business more or less 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.”


Press contact:

Andy James

T: 020 8614 6299
andy.james@aircharter.co.uk
www.aircharter.co.uk

Exciting new partnership for winter season

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 tailor made to your requirements, 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 Adventures and Air Charter Service make it happen with minimum the planning and hassle on your behalf.

Visit http://www.eaheli.com/ for more information on heliskiing.