Leading aircraft charter specialist, Air Charter Service, has reported an excellent first financial quarter of the year, with charter numbers up and revenue growth of more than 35% year-on-year, up to $380 million.
Chris Leach, ACS’s Founder and Chairman, commented: “Our financial year begins on February 1st, so the end of April closed our first quarter. We are delighted with our performance, with record results for the first quarter, in all divisions, with overall charters up by 19%, and revenue by 37%.
“Removing some of our larger ongoing contracts – which are low value / high volume and have remained at the same level as last year – our underlying growth is a healthy 13% in private jet charter flights, with revenues up 27%. Part of this revenue growth was a result of securing some higher-value contracts – both on larger aircraft and with longer sectors. We also arranged evacuations from the Middle East on private jets. The higher aviation fuel prices across the globe have also affected revenue.
“Our group charter division has performed very well, with both charters and revenue up by 40%. This was buoyed by evacuation flights out of the Middle East for various governments and large multinational companies. Underlying growth, however, is still very strong.
“The strongest growth in terms of charter numbers, out of our three main divisions, came from our cargo department, which saw over 70% more charters than the same period last year, and revenue up by 41%. In part, these increases were due to supply chain disruptions caused by the conflict in Iran, as well as the repercussions of Storm Marta and the port closures that it caused in Morocco.
“Of our smaller divisions, ACS Leasing has had incredible success, with some large contracts meaning that revenue has already eclipsed last year’s total after only three months of the year. And our Time Critical Services offering has seen a 52% increase in contract numbers and a remarkable 101% growth in revenue, as they continue to make huge strides in onboard courier (OBC) and next flight out (NFO) sales under the new leadership team.
“Outlook for the rest of the year is uncertain, as the fallout from the Iran conflict and other geopolitical situations means that we are probably in the most uncertain period since Covid, making it impossible to foresee what effects these situations will have on the charter market going forward. Our global footprint, diverse businesses and portfolio of clients do, however, mean that we are well-placed to deal with whatever happens in the coming months.”
