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As ACS heads into 2010 following its record year, their New York office welcomes a new Cargo Sales Director. Stuart Smith, formerly holding the same role in the company’s Dubai operation, takes over from Gary Hopkins as he moves to Toronto to head up the new office there.

Smith joined Air Charter Service’s London office in 2005, and quickly gained a great knowledge of the industry enabling him to move to the U.A.E. to help with the newly formed Dubai office in 2006. Smith went from strength to strength and within a couple of years became Cargo Sales Director. In 2009 Smith was in charge of the Dubai cargo department as it more than doubled 2008’s figures despite the economic downturn.

Ruan Courtney, President of ACS New York, said: “Whilst we’re sorry to lose Gary, Stuart is a more than qualified replacement. Gary will thrive in the newly founded Toronto office, and Stuart can pick up where he left off. We’ve had our record year here in the New York office as well and we look forward to continuing to prosper in 2010”.

Smith added: “This is an exciting new challenge for me in what is a very different market to that of Dubai. But the tough negotiations with operators in the Middle East and the level of service required stands me in good stead and means that I will be able to gain my new clients the best possible prices and offer a genuinely good service.

Air Charter Service was founded in 1990, and currently turns over US$265 million annually and it operates around 4000 charters per year on all types of aircraft ranging from cargo charters, to private jet charters, to commercial airliners. ACS’s offerings and service have proved so popular, that in a market considered to be shrinking by about 25% in 2009, ACS grew by around 30%, in both terms of numbers of charters, as well as overall revenue.

Ruan Courtney, President ACS New York, recently chartered the huge Antonov 225. The aircraft, the single largest freighter in the World, flew from Edmonton, Alberta to East Midlands Airport in the UK.

The 250 tonne capacity, 6 engined Russian aircraft was chartered to carry a generator across the Atlantic. Courtney flew on board with the cargo and said: “The tricky sized cargo was easily carried by the aircraft and the flight was completed without a hitch.”

“The client was very happy with the way the flight went and was delighted that they had chartered the impressive AN-225”, Courtney added.

For all charter enquiries, please email us at: cargo@usa-aircharter.com

Michael Kubik of Air Charter Service’s New York operation recently had to act fast to save hundreds of fans’ disappointment. A South American musician was due to play an intimate gig in Philadelphia and his equipment was being transported there on a scheduled airline service from Toledo, Ohio. When the tour company were informed just 6 hours before the show was set to start that the equipment was not on the flight due to a technical fault with the aircraft, everyone panicked.

Michael was called in an attempt to rescue the situation. Kubik’s knowledge and experience meant that he was able to quickly source a local Cessna Caravan aircraft, and he got the wheels in motion straight away. The equipment made it to the venue just 30 minutes before the doors opened, and the tour company said that the musician and fans would be very grateful! She stated “You guys saved the day!”

For all your cargo charter enquiries, please contact us at cargo@usa-aircharter.com

Gary Hopkins, cargo manager ACS New York, was presented with a challenge recently when he had to move a piece of oilwell equipment from Houston to Port Harcourt in Nigeria. The difficulty was the size of it - it was over eighteen feet long and weighed 25,000 lbs!

Gary phoned his local contacts, but the client’s budget was too little. Using his years of experience and ACS’s worldwide network of offices, Gary worked with Richard Thompson in the London office. Gary found a scheduled B747 noseloader flying from Houston to Luxembourg. And Richard was able to find a part charter on an MD-11 through his contacts locally in Europe. It was due to depart from Ostend, Belgium to the required destination, so all that was needed was a truck between the two airports. Because the aircraft was going to Port Harcourt anyway, there was no need to wait for traffic rights – which could have been a problem due to Ramadan – and avoided costly royalties.

For all charter enquiries, please email us at: cargo@usa-aircharter.com

Michael Guthenburg, charter sales executive ACS New York, recently went beyond the call of duty to help a client. He received a call from a customer that needed to get 250lbs of urgent spare parts to a plant in Idaho to stop a plant going into shutdown.

The parts were originating in North Carolina and needed get there as soon as possible. Michael sourced a Learjet quickly, the only problem being that the remote airport closest to the plant was closed at night time. The next nearest would have added precious hours onto the delivery time. This did not deter Michael however, as he tracked down the airport manager's home telephone number and managed to get him to agree to open up and provide a forklift to offload the cargo.

The client was exceptionally grateful for Michael's help, and the aircraft arrived on time and prevented the costly shutdown.

For all charter enquiries, please email us at: cargo@usa-aircharter.com

In late June, Gary Hopkins, Cargo Sales Director ACS New York, organized an urgent charter for some much needed oil parts down in Colombia. It was a very large load of pipes to be flown out of Houston down to Bogota. Some of the pipes were over 40 foot long, which meant only one aircraft type was up to the job - a noseloader. Gary sourced a Boeing 747.

”With over 30 pipes in total, it was a very tight fit”, explained Hopkins. “Some of the pipes were very long, and weighed over 6,000 lbs. The loading was pretty tricky, and we required two main deck loaders at both airports to support the weight evenly, and slide them into the aircraft”. He added, “We only had a few days to plan the entire job - from initial phone call to completion - but it all went so smoothly”.

To contact the ACS New York cargo department, please email: cargo@usa-aircharter.com