Air Charter Service has appointed Marcus Kelly as VP of sports North America, to develop the company's well-established collegiate and professional sports charter business in the US.

Richard Thompson, president of ACS Americas, comments: “Air Charter Service arranges more than 23,000 charter flights every year and has been serving a long list of sports clients for many years now. Marcus brings with him almost 10 years of specialist charter experience, as well as a wealth of connections in the sports industry. Our team, across our US offices, will hugely benefit from Marcus's knowledge and expertise and better serve our existing clients.”

Marcus Kelly adds: “It is an exciting time to be joining ACS as we come out the other side of the pandemic. Our international network of offices, in addition to our nine North American offices, means that we can serve US teams even when they are travelling around different continents. The huge benefits of chartering aircraft for sports team travel are well-known, including being able to set your own schedule and travel within a team bubble. I think they will be in even more demand for fixtures this year, and we're looking to help teams going forward.”

ACS has also moved its Atlanta, Georgia operation to a new, more central office, as it looks to facilitate the company's growth plans in the state.

Located on Peachtree Street in Midtown Atlanta, ACS's Georgia operation opened in early 2019 and got off to a roaring start, even maintaining sales throughout last year's unusual climate. Headed up by Nick Reed, the office this year has enjoyed similar growth and is on course for another exceptionally strong year.

Thompson explains: “We brought in Nick last year, after almost 10 years in our New York operation, with big plans and to drive the office forward, but then the global pandemic hit. The plans then changed, but Nick and his team rode the storm of 2020 exceptionally well and, now that we have the additional space and prime location, we are looking to grow our experienced team with local talent. We believe that this new office allows us the room to grow for the foreseeable future.

“We identified Atlanta as key to our US expansion plans several years ago and, despite the unusual past 18 months, we were fully justified in doing so. With this new office space we're aiming to go from strength to strength in the city.”