How the flight charter industry helped keep the world moving during the COVID-19 crisis


  • Air Charter Service (ACS) has risen to the challenge during the Covid-19 crisis, coordinating global flights that have transported tens of thousands of tons of medical cargo to more than 60 countries while adapting passenger aircraft for emergency cargo.
  • Each department – ​​cargo, private jets and charter group – played a pivotal role, from transporting PPE and medical supplies to repatriating passengers and transporting essential workers.
  • The company emerged stronger after the pandemic, achieving an 11% compound annual growth rate in revenue after reinvesting gains from increased demand across its global network.

 

The Covid-19 pandemic is perhaps the most significant event in charter aviation since the Berlin Airlift of 1948/49. Justin Lancaster, Commercial Director, Air Charter Service, and Dan Morgan Evans, ACS Group Cargo Director, sat down to discuss what it has been like navigating the business through this very challenging period.

As with the pandemic itself, the response has come in waves, with different challenges at each stage. ACS’s three main divisions, Cargo, Private Aircraft and Charter Group, became independent of each other at various points during this period.

As a global company, ACS has had a front-row seat to many of the logistical issues raised by the pandemic but has also played a key role in finding solutions.

From manually loading medical cargo onto passenger aircraft seats, to chartering the world’s largest plane to transport Christmas trees, this has been an extraordinary time for charter cargo aircraft, with some spillover effects continuing to be felt into late 2024.

In addition to regular shipments, ACS has transported tens of thousands of tons of medical goods to more than 60 countries over the course of the pandemic.

The company’s private jet segment has seen hundreds of new clients, as the new and most important advantage of private flying is staying in your own “bubble”. The group’s charter division has found itself providing more capacity in the absence of scheduled airlines, including flying fruit pickers from Romania to the UK.

Justin Lancaster, ACS Group Commercial Director, concluded: “As a business with offices spread around the world, and with our diverse range of services, we were fully prepared for every situation the pandemic presented. It was certainly an unprecedented time, and we were fortunate to have a significant boom in business for a few years, yet we were under no illusions that it would end – and after reinvesting, we came out on the other side a stronger company.” Much. Our growth over the six-year period (since before the pandemic), is demonstrated by a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 11% in revenue.

The article How the charter industry has kept the world moving during Covid-19 first appeared on Air Cargo Week.

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