Air Charter Service has surpassed 30,000 flights in a single year for the first time, marking a major milestone as the company prepares to celebrate its 35th anniversary.
Chris Leach, founder and chairman of ACS, says: “In 2024 we arranged 30,290 flights, which is a magnificent achievement in one year. That means that, on average, a flight arranged by ACS took off somewhere around the world every 17 and a half minutes on every day in 2024.
“We experienced our busiest ever summer months and finished the year exceptionally strongly, as it was touch and go at the end of November as to whether we would pass the landmark figure. When I started the company 35 years ago, in my family home's basement, we were only arranging a handful of flights; and to think that now more than three ACS chartered flights take off every hour is an incredible achievement by our teams across the world.
“The sheer diversity of what we flew and where we flew every year is also remarkable. Flights arranged by us were an integral part of evacuations and relief missions, helped international superstars complete world tours and even relocated 39 rhinos for a crucial conservation project. Over those 30,290 flights, we used more than 1,400 airlines, and I'd like to thank them all for supporting our business and helping us charter aircraft to more than 200 countries in 2024.
“Growing our office network last year also helped the flight increase with all three new offices in Manchester, Dublin and Munich hitting the ground running. 2025 is shaping up to be another exciting year for ACS, as we have a number of new offices in the pipeline, including Milan, which we opened earlier this month. And this year's figures have started well; January's flight numbers were 12.1 per cent up compared to January last year, so we are in good shape for an even stronger 12 months in 2025.”