In the first half of its financial year, Air Charter Service has seen an increase of eight per cent in private jet bookings from its UK office. This compares to industry-wide WingX statistics showing that private jet flights into and out of the UK were down by just over five per cent over the same six months. 
Global director of private jets Andy Christie says: “We had a very good first half of the year, considering the market is in decline, with more than 1,300 private jet charter flights arranged just from our London headquarters over the six month period. The increase of eight per cent is even more impressive when you take into consideration WingX's figures for the UK, and when compared to the worldwide industry as a whole, which has grown by just two per cent. 
“It may seem somewhat surprising that the team is doing so well, as the economic and political situation in the UK at the moment has led to cuts in spending in many sectors while the country waits to find out what will happen with Brexit. As opposed to the increase being due to a buoyant market, it appears that we are simply gaining substantial market share.
“Our revenue from private jet sales across all 25 of our worldwide offices saw a similar increase, with ACS's global revenue across all markets in the six months to the end of July totalling $300 million. Our new offices in the US, in San Francisco and Atlanta, have both had great starts to the year and are ahead of expectations. All of our offices in the APAC region are also outperforming last year, and our new operation in Shanghai is doing well in its first year.” 
Christie concludes: “We are hoping that the UK will stabilise a little after 31 October [Brexit day], increasing the amount of private jet traffic into and out of the UK. In the meantime we are pleased to have grown market share and we are confident that the global upward trend for both ACS and the industry as a whole will continue into the second half of the year.”