Air Charter Service’s commercial jet division had another busy year in 2022 as easing Covid-19 travel restrictions sparked a resurgence of leisure travel.
ACS's commercial jet charters of 2022
From flying a heavy metal band to their gig to helping Chinese students get home, our commercial jet division has had another busy year. While the easing of Covid-19 travel restrictions saw a resurgence in leisure travel, the pandemic still played a factor in various charters. Here’s a selection of our most memorable commercial jet charters from 2022.
Flying incentive groups
As countries relaxed travel restrictions, we saw a rapid increase in businesses booking employee trips abroad. In May 2022, a destination management company asked us to help fly a Spanish incentive group on a round-trip from Thailand to Cambodia – our first Asia-Pacific MICE charter since the onset of the pandemic in early 2020.
That same month, we were tasked with arranging flights in Australia as part of another incentive trip for a telecommunication firm’s top 50 performers. Despite restrictions having lifted, Covid-19 found a way of impacting the charter when crew members contracted the virus two weeks before departure, leaving our team to quickly find a new solution.
Getting Chinese students home
While most countries reopened their borders this year, some remained closed. One such destination was China, so our team faced a challenge when a travel agent asked us to help fly over 100 Chinese students home from England.
With no direct scheduled services to China from the UK, a private charter was needed to transport the group to Sweden for a connecting flight. Facing limited availability due to a strike and high demand during Europe’s busy summer season, we stepped in to arrange the part charter and get the group to Sweden in time.
Moving film crews and musicians
We’ve organised all sorts of film- and music-related charters over the decades, and saw an uptick this year with bands able to perform in front of fans again. One travel agency asked us to arrange three flights taking film crews from Sydney to the remote Australian Outback in April and May. With an ever-changing brief and limited aircraft available, our team had to source two jets to move teams of around 150 passengers on different dates.
Also in April, an English heavy metal band’s tour manager needed our help with arranging a series charter for an upcoming tour of Canada. With a busy schedule often involving several stops a day, chartering a private jet ensured they reached each location quickly and conveniently with minimal time spent at airports.
Assisting stranded passengers
We handle many last-minute requests for commercial charters, but there’s a particular urgency when the passengers in question are stranded. In July, we were called on to fly a group back to Melbourne from a conference on Australia’s Gold Coast when their scheduled flight was cancelled amidst industry-wide aircraft and crew shortages.
On another occasion, we helped get a trip back on track when 80 Australian tourists missed an onward flight after thunderstorms delayed their cruise ship off the coast of Cape Town. Working together despite a nine-hour time difference, our Johannesburg office found an aircraft while colleagues in Sydney liaised with the travel company’s head office in Australia, lining up the required permits and transferring payment to the airline within just three hours.
Flying the Dakar Rally winners home
Our global teams arrange charters for sports teams all over the world, but we had no idea how special one such request would turn out to be.
In December 2021, we were asked to transport the Toyota Gazoo Racing team to the 2022 Dakar Rally in Saudi Arabia. The 96-member team went on to claim victory in the prestigious competition, so they were in the mood to celebrate on the return leg back to Johannesburg in January 2022. With bespoke requests from the client including in-flight service and food, we pulled out all the stops to make sure it was a charter fit for champions.
Contact our commercial jet team today to find out more about how we can fulfil your group charter needs.