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Air Charter Service raises significant amount for charity January, 2012 In 2011 leading aircraft charter firm Air Charter Service raised more than $77,000 for their chosen charities; HEAL, Cancer Research UK, The Shooting Star Children’s Hospice, The Willow foundation and The International Youth Arts Foundation. ACS supports a selection of chosen causes, with a dedicated committee helping to organise an array of fund-raising events. All the money raised by their staff is matched by the company, doubling the total amount. One of the charities that benefitted from the money raised, HEAL, provide shelter, support, education and healthcare to some of the world’s poorest children, with the aim of helping 10,000 young people ‘escape the poverty trap’ by 2015. One of the highlights of the company’s fundraising year took place in September: an 18-strong ACS dragonboat team – named ‘No Plane No Gain!’ – took part in this year’s Great River Race down the Thames, completing the gruelling 21-mile course in a respectable time of just under three hours, raising $9,000 for HEAL along the way. Among a host of other charity functions, a raffle was held at ACS’s European staff’s Christmas party at The Aviator Hotel, Farnborough, garnering more than $21,000 for their chosen causes. ACS funded the building of an IT block within HEAL’s new self-sustaining village for orphans in Thotapally, India. Chris and Tina Leach, respectively ACS Chairman and Company Secretary, recently visited the site and described what they saw as “absolutely inspiring”. Looking forward to 2012, Tina, who heads up the ACS charity committee, is confident that ACS can provide yet more support to HEAL and the company’s other charities: “We are immensely proud that we can contribute to such wonderful causes. 2011 was a brilliant year for ACS, but I believe we can do even more this year.” You can watch a video of Chris and Tina’s visit to the Paradise Village by visiting the company’s YouTube channel, www.youtube.com/ACSPLC. |
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Sunday Times HSBC Top Track 250 2011 November, 2011 Leading aircraft charter provider, Air Charter Service, has been placed 158th in The Sunday Times HSBC Top Track 250 list published yesterday [16th October]. The list, produced every year since 2004, ranks Britain's top 250 Mid-market private companies by their turnover over the previous year, from published accounts. It is the first appearance in the league table for the company after previously being earmarked ‘One To Watch’ two years ago. Chairman Chris Leach commented: “This placing is recognition of our hard work and continued growth over the past few years, and we are delighted with our position.” Last year sales grew by 37% to £227.8 million, and further growth is expected again this year. 2011’s list contains household names such as Manchester United, Aston Martin and Selfridges. The 250 companies named have a total revenue of £71.2 billion, and make up approximately 5% of the UK’s GDP. |
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Half year results 2011 October, 2011 Air Charter Service has reported strong growth in the first half of 2011, with revenue increasing by 20%. And the company has arranged almost 3,000 charter contracts in the first six months of the year – an increase of around 20% on the previous year. ACS Chairman Chris Leach commented: “All three of our divisions; Cargo, Commercial Jets and Executive Jets, showed very strong growth last year, and our international operations all performed well. This year our passenger business has grown more rapidly than the cargo side and now accounts for more than 50% of total revenue for the first time in our history. Our Commercial Jets department results for the first half of the year are up almost 150%. “The group continues to work with a variety of governments, corporate companies and high net worth individuals worldwide. We organised a huge number of evacuation flights for expatriates from Egypt, Libya, Tunisia and Japan in the first few months of this year, but the underlying growth is still strong, despite the recession.” The company currently has fourteen offices spanning five continents, providing an impressive global network. Leach added: “Our ever expanding number of offices is allowing us to offer innovative solutions to clients worldwide. We have local knowledge on a global scale and customers recognise the benefits of using us, rather than a company without such an extensive network. A lot of the growth over the past few years has been down the opening of new operations, including the two that opened their doors this year – firstly São Paulo and, more recently, Los Angeles.” Leach concluded: “This continued growth is testament to the hard work of our staff and the successful implementation of a number of management strategies - we are a cash rich company and reinvest heavily in our training and the treatment of our staff – which explains our exceptionally low staff turnover and place in The Sunday times 100 Best Companies To Work For list.” |
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Air Charter Service helps to rescue stranded vessel April, 2011
Following a storm in Morocco last month a large vessel ran aground on the country’s shores. After initial attempts failed to shift the ship, Air Charter Service was called upon. |
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Japanese evacuations become latest in ACS’s relief operations this year March, 2011
Air Charter Service’s Hong Kong office has completed its first few staff relocation flights out of Japan after fears over the extent of radiation leak heighten, and has arranged more. |
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ACS New York experiences steady growth April, 2010 Air Charter Service, one of the world’s leading names in cargo aircraft charters, has seen steady growth in the past 12 months, despite global economic uncertainty. The company’s New York office in particular has flourished, with an increase in contracted charters of more than forty per cent over the last year. Ruan Courtney, President ACS North America, put it down to his team: “We have a strong, highly skilled and experienced team of account managers here, whose knowledge and personal service levels have proved invaluable this past year or so. Whilst the market in general has been filled with stories of doom and gloom, we’ve experienced substantial growth.” In the first three months of 2010 alone numbers were up three-fold on 2009’s figures. Courtney commented: “We had a peak season flurry of Far East to USA business in the last quarter of 2009, but the number of charters has stayed high into the start of this year, right up to Chinese New Year. This growth in 2009 enabled us to open our new Toronto office in February which has started to make significant profits already under the guidance of Gary Hopkins.
“Another reason for the busy start to year has been the wake of the devastating earthquake in Haiti. We have sent many charters to the region carrying aid for the victims, and continue to do so. The ash cloud in Northern Europe also affected business, as many scheduled carriers had a backlog of cargo, which meant more people needed to charter to save their goods being affected by a knock on delay.” |
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ACS New York performs heavy lift despite snow storms March, 2010 Air Charter Service’s New York operation managed to get some highly sensitive construction material on site in Riga, Latvia despite atrocious weather conditions on the U.S. East Coast. Ruan Courtney, President of ACS New York, was asked to transport 65 tons of building equipment from JFK Airport to the Baltic State. There were very particular handling requirements and the cargo needed to be escorted by three cargo attendants, to prevent damage or tampering, for the duration of the flight. Everything was running smoothly until the actual day of the flight, when New York was hit by a major snowstorm. The area of low pressure knocked out power across the region and caused most flights at both JFK and Newark Airports to be cancelled completely. Despite the blizzard the sensitive cargo was loaded carefully, but efficiently. On the morning of the charter no other flights had left JFK, but ACS and the operator worked tirelessly to ensure the aircraft was de-iced and acquired a slot from Air Traffic Control who allowed it to leave with the minimum of delays.
The customer was extremely grateful and praised the expertise and professionalism of Air Charter Service and the aircraft’s crew. |
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Stuart Smith becomes the new Cargo Sales Director of ACS New York January, 2010 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. |
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Air Charter Service New York charters world's largest aircraft November, 2009 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 |
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Air Charter Service rescue gig October, 2009 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 |
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ACS New York utilises global network of offices September, 2009 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 |
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