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.

Gavin Copus, CEO of ACS Asia Pacific, said: “On Tuesday we chartered a 400 seat Boeing 777-300 to relocate a corporate client’s staff from Tokyo to Hong Kong. Their office in Tokyo was having problems with intermittent power and the company was worried about their staff’s general well-being following the radiation leaks. We also chartered a Boeing 747 that landed yesterday. It’s not going to be the last of these sort of flights either – we have a few more booked, all flying over the coming days from the Tokyo area. Both Haneda and Narita Airports to the north of the city are open, but most people are migrating to the south and heading towards Osaka and Nagoya. We will also be repatriating various different nationalities in the coming days.”

Copus then added: “2011 is fast becoming a very busy year for evacuations. I know that some people across our worldwide offices have been working seven days a week! Since the uprisings in Egypt and then Libya, it has been non-stop for more than six weeks.”

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Egypt
Air Charter Service evacuated almost 2,000 foreign nationals after the uprising began on January 25th 2011. ACS arranged 26 charters in total from both Cairo and Alexandria.

Libya
The situation in Libya was on an even greater scale – ACS evacuated more than 6,000 people from Tripoli and Sebha in the country across 34 flights. Amongst these was the last British governmental flight out of Tripoli carrying the FCO workers and final remaining Britons. ACS was not, however, involved in the heavily criticised first few British evacuation flights. The company had people on the ground in the region including in Malta where an airbridge was set up by ACS from Tripoli (only one hour away by air) to enable a speedier evacuation process.

Tunisia
ACS then conducted a further 13 flights from neighbouring Tunisia, after many people fled across the border from Libya. ACS flew more than 2,000 foreign nationals from the Tunisian airport of Djerba. The company’s cargo departments chartered aircraft into Tunis that brought in over two hundred tons of aid including tents, blankets and food.

New Zealand
Following the earthquake near Christchurch, ACS arranged an American governmental aid flight carrying search and rescue teams, as well as 65 tons of relief cargo.

Totals (excluding Japan):
Time scale: 6 weeks
Flights: 75
Passengers: 10,000+
Cargo: 300 tons

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Libya evacuation update
February, 2011

Air Charter Service has now evacuated over 4500 passengers from Libya in one of the largest and most complex evacuation operations the company has ever faced. So far the company has chartered 26 flights out of Libya with more charters yet to fly with passengers from many nationalities including, Turkish, British, American, Portuguese, Spanish, Vietnamese, Chinese and Thai.

According to reports, the number of foreign nationals looking to be evacuated in total is around 100,000. By this rationale, ACS has evacuated at least 4% of the total number of people needing to leave Libya. As many of these foreign nationals are crossing the land borders and being evacuated by ferry, ACS has played and extremely significant role in the air evacuation.

The first ACS charter out of Tripoli departed on Wednesday and was one of the first civilian charters to do so following the crisis. Members of many ACS offices including Dubai, Spain, London and New York worked together as a team to ensure the successful operation in the most difficult and chaotic of circumstances.

ACS had staff on the ground in Malta to ensure smooth transit of over 1000 passengers who we evacuated from Tripoli to their final destinations in Bangkok and Hanoi (see picture). ACS Dubai’s Dmitriy Korshunov was also in hand in Dubai International airport to greet Chinese passengers from our evacuation flight from Shebha in Libya.

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Air Charter Service begins evacuation charters from Libya
February, 2011

Leading aircraft charter specialist, ACS, has had its first flight depart troubled Libya on Wednesday. The violent demonstrations in the African country have caused many to fear for their lives and flee by any means possible.

With virtually no flights departing from Tripoli and with Benghazi airport closed, this is proving difficult.

Matt Purton, Commercial Jets Director at ACS, explains some of the difficulties:
“Yesterday afternoon [22nd Feb] only 2 landing permits for chartered flights out of the 457 registered had been granted. Our Dubai office managed to obtain one yesterday evening and has operated our first flight out of the country, on an Airbus A320, carrying almost two hundred Turkish citizens to Antalya this morning. And we now have permits for four more flights, all to operate today. Across our worldwide offices we have bookings in place for more than 3,000 people and are just waiting on those permits. We are pushing these through diplomatic channels as this appears to be the only way at the moment.

“Following the violent protesting in Egypt we have helped evacuate more than 2,000 foreign nationals on chartered flights so far. As with the situation there, we are looking to take many people out of Libya to nearby safer havens such as southern Europe or the Middle East, and to continue their travel from there. Some are flying as far as the States and Asia though.

“We’re just here to help get as many people out of the affected areas as we can.”

Air Charter Service arranges more than 5,000 charters every year, incorporating tens of thousands of flights, on all aircraft - private jets, larger widebody airliners and cargo aircraft.

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Egypt crisis update 
February, 2011

Air Charter Service has already booked or flown charters carrying more than 2,000 foreign nationals out of Cairo, as the violence in the Egyptian capital escalates.

Although there has been reports of increased security searches on all aircraft leaving the country causing massive congestion at Cairo Airport over the weekend and during the course of the week, ACS has operated both large airliners carrying groups of passengers for embassies and tour operators, as well as businessmen on executive jets.

Jon Thompson, Director at ACS, said: “Many people are realising that the most efficient way of leaving Egypt is on a chartered aircraft. We have seen huge demand over the past week. Cairo Airport has gone as far as to bring in the army to assist with security checks, clearances and aircraft slots.

“Along with the flights that we have already performed we have many scheduled to depart in the coming days from Cairo, Alexandria and Luxor. Fortunately the situation at the airport seems to be improving and the backlog is beginning to clear a little. Whilst some of the aircraft are flying to more ‘local’ safe havens such as Dubai, Turkey and Greece, others have flown as far as the States.”

Air Charter Service arranges more than 5,000 charters every year, incorporating tens of thousands of flight legs, on all aircraft - private jets, larger widebody airliners and cargo aircraft.

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ACS New York aids stranded businessman

On the evening of Friday 16th April Air Charter Service’s New York office received a phone call from an American businessman who was stranded in Stockholm and could not fly home due to the volcanic ash cloud that was covering most of European airspace.

The Eyjafjallajoekull volcano in Iceland erupted on the Wednesday night, and the cloud of ash caused by it rapidly spread over first the UK, and then most of Western Europe, closing all airspace, and causing havoc with all flights in the region.

After discussing possible options with Andy Christie, Passenger Sales Director, it was decided that the best course of action was for the businessman to drive to Madrid – one of the only areas in Western Europe not affected by the ash – and to fly from there. It was, however, a 35 hour drive to get there. Once in Madrid, ACS arranged a private charter and he was able to meet a Gulfstream IV-SP, available on a one way leg to New York that ACS’s Spanish Office had access to.

Mr Christie then arranged for a smaller Citation V to be ready to meet the gentleman at New York to take him to his final destination of Miami, and then he could get to his home at Boca Raton.

ACS’s problem solving expertise proved invaluable as he was back in his office Tuesday morning, having only missed one day of work. He was extremely grateful, and said that when he made the initial call he never expected to be back at home and in work as soon as he was. 

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ACS New York take on weather to ensure site visits take place
October, 2009

Paul McCluskey, VP Commercial Sales ACS USA, recently had to battle adverse weather conditions to make sure an oil drilling site visit went like clockwork. The plan was for 2 groups of passengers to travel from Houston to Shreveport in Louisiana on consecutive days on an Embraer 120 that Paul had sourced.

En route on the first flight, the crew learned that there was some unforecasted bad weather at the destination - fog. The visibility at Shreveport was too poor to land, so the aircraft diverted to Monroe International Airport (also in Louisiana). Ngaire Duncan, Account Manager ACS New York, was repping the flight and looked into all possibilities to get the passengers over to Shreveport - including road transportation.

She was first to find out that there was a break in the weather and scrambled the crew and the aircraft to get to Shreveport as quickly as possible. This meant that they were able to carry out the visit to their new oil rig. Flexibility with the schedule for the return flight too meant that they were able to still see everything they needed to see.

For the flight on the following day Ngaire checked the weather and ascertained that there would likely be fog again and that it could affect the arrival in to Shreveport. She worked with the client to reschedule the flight in advance and avoid any weather issues.

The client was thrilled with how the project came together and how the ACS team managed the adversity.

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ACS becomes Wyvern Authorized Broker
September, 2009

Air Charter Service Inc is delighted to announce that it is now a Wyvern Authorized Broker. ACS has been part of the sister Pilot & Aircraft Safety Survey (PASS) program for a while now, as well as being members of ACANA (Air Charter Association of North America) for a number of years, so safety has always been at the forefront of their minds.

The Wyvern Operating Standards are an enhanced set of safety measurement criterion, which were developed over the years in cooperation with The Wyvern Customer Advisory Board.

Ruan Courtney, President of ACS New York, has hailed the impact of offering clients the assurance that all aircraft that ACS charter are checked by PASS.

“A PASS report demonstrates to our customers that we are taking safety seriously by providing them with due diligence on the operator, aircraft and pilots assigned to each trip that they book with ACS”, said Courtney.

Each PASS report checks and verifies crucial information concerning the operator, aircraft and crew for a given trip. For example, the pilot check verifies that the assigned pilot is fully certificated, properly type-rated, has met flight time requirements and has current medical and training records.

“Since we signed up to PASS all our customers have appreciated the added confidence and reassurance that it brings, and now that we ourselves are Wyvern accredited there is an added level of safety insurance”.

“I have always had a policy that I would never put a customer on an aircraft which I would not be happy flying on with my family. In a time of economic turmoil, many companies are cutting back and therefore cutting corners in regards to safety, but we are not one of them. We have stepped up our efforts to new heights to ensure that we continue to offer the safest selection of aircraft on the market.”

see air safety

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High flyers to high rollers
August, 2009

This month Andy Christie, Passenger Sales Director ACS NY, helped two city financiers celebrate a deal they had just closed in style, by taking them to Atlantic City. They were staying at a prominent hotel in Washington DC, and the concierge knew Andy would be able to help them out.

Within two hours of the original phone call, the passengers were in a limousine on their way to Washington Executive Airport – just southeast of the city center, so as not to delay their celebrating. Andy arranged for a bottle of champagne to be on board, and they were soon on their way.

The Seneca aircraft that Andy had arranged was ideal for their requirements – able to take off at a moment’s notice from the short runway at Washington Executive Airport.

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Andy Christie, Passenger Sales Director ACS NY, recently rescued a family’s retreat to a fishing lodge in Canada. They were booked on a scheduled flight from San Francisco to Vancouver, where they were to catch a seaplane to the fishing lodge.

On the morning of the flight however, there was terrible weather, and this caused major air traffic delays at San Francisco International. So their scheduled flight was severely delayed. This is when they phoned Andy.

Andy arrange a private jet charter and quickly sourced a Premier 1 light jet at nearby Hayward Executive Airport, and arranged a limousine to pick the family up from their hotel and drop them airside at their private jet. There were no air traffic delays at the executive airport and so the aircraft was on its way within 15 minutes of the passengers arriving.

The aircraft flew into Vancouver and the passengers were driven round to the seaplane and made their flight with the minimum of hassle and disruption.  The seaplane was able to depart ahead of the bad weather, which would otherwise have been impossible.

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Marc Hollander, Senior Passenger Charter Executive ACS New York, recently had the pleasure of flying one of the world’s most successful TV and film producers.

He needed to fly from Los Angeles to attend a meeting in New York but had a problem because his own Gulfstream aircraft was in routine maintenance, so couldn't make the trip. However, due to ACS’s buying power and up to the minute knowledge of empty leg opportunities, Marc was able to source a brand new G550 at the same cost as to what the producer’s own aircraft would have cost for the same trip.

The producer commented that Marc’s quality of service was exceptional, and was very grateful for the fast, cost effective, comfortable aircraft that he provided.

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ACS New York flies two celebrities to Virginia for the day
May, 2009
Marc Hollander, Senior Passenger Sales Executive, recently provided a charter for two prominent news and media figures from New York to a college graduation ceremony in Williamsburg, Virginia.

As special guest speakers, they had a busy schedule which required returning back shortly after the ceremonies conclusion. For its speed, comfort and pure cost efficiency, Marc chose a King Air 90 for the job. He commented: “the event was a great success, and we received very positive feedback from the passengers. They particularly commented on the ease of the day, and the efficiency provided by ACS”.

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A flight had been arranged for a family wishing to take a trip from Miami up to their house in Vail for a week of Skiing. As the flight date arrived Andy Christie, director of passenger sales, kept a close eye on a storm moving into Colorado, to check if there would be any delays for the flight.

The storm resulted in every major airport in Colorado being closed, on the day of the flight Andy spoke with the chief pilot of the aircraft and was able to inform the passengers before the left home that they would not be able to arrive at any of the airports close to their destination in Vail. The family agreed that it would be safer to wait at home in Miami until the weather conditions improved. Immediately Andy set about making arrangements for the Citation X, to remain on the ground in Miami ready to depart the following day with no additional costs. The family were able to get to their preferred destination only a day later than planned, to enjoy their skiing trip.

Andy Christie said “weather can play a major part when arranging flights into airports in mountainous areas such as Vail and Aspen. At ACS we monitor the real time conditions and forecasts for specific airfields so we can make contingency plans for alternate airports and advise passengers in advance to limit delays and inconveniences caused in these situations.”

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Need to charter a flight to another country, or another continent, let ACS find you the best price and the right aircraft.

As an international company with offices in New York, London, Bilbao, Johannesburg, Moscow, Dubai, Hong Kong and soon Paris our local knowledge and buying power are unsurpassed. You can take advantage of our established relationships with operators as we negotiate you the best price possible.

Having enquiries worked on in the same time zone as the aircraft means that no time is lost. This is often the case when trying to contact countries like china where every one is going to sleep as you are starting up your PC.

We have charter experts fluent in all the local languages and customs, making sure that no details are lost in translation and ensuring that we provide the best service possible.

Our regional offices pride themselves on their expert knowledge of local regulations to make your trip as easy as possible, taking all of the stress away from you.

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High flying cameras get the perfect shot
February, 2009

This month ACS New York received an urgent call in from a camera crew needing a helicopter charter to get some perfect aerial pictures before the light faded.

Two photographers working to a tight deadline needed a helicopter complete with camera mounts and Andy Christie, director of passenger sales in New York was given the task of getting the client in the air to get the shots before sundown.

Within 10 minutes of finding a suitable helicopter with a crew on standby, the clients were in the car heading to the helipad, and within 90 minutes of the call in, they were airborne.

The photographers managed to get the shots they were looking for on time, Andy’s extensive knowledge enabled him to find a suitable helicopter that fitted all the requirements.

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