Air Charter Service (ACS), has announced record results with
sales in excess of $1.2 billion in its most recent financial year ending
January 2021.
The company said that all three of its divisions – private
jets, group charters and cargo – saw year‐on‐year increases, largely because of
disruption to the world’s scheduled air transport networks during the pandemic.
It was the cargo division that was the standout performer. With
up to 80 per cent of air freight usually travelling in the belly of scheduled
passenger aircraft, the cancellation of so many passenger flights meant that
cargo charter solutions were needed to compensate. The company’s investment in
China a decade ago also paid off as many medical supplies were sourced from the country.
In its passenger divisions, there was unprecedented demand
for evacuation services in the early stages of the pandemic.
ACS CEO Justin Bowman said: "We had to radically
change the way we worked, the audiences we were targeting, and the aircraft we
were chartering last year – and everyone here seems to have taken it in their
stride.
"Whilst these results are unlikely to be achieved again
this year, they have allowed us to re‐invest heavily in the business across a
number of exciting strategies which are already generating returns. Some of
these are already helping us to beat even our most optimistic forecasts for the
current financial year, and we expect others to provide potentially exciting
returns in the longer term."