April was a record month, predominantly driven by unusually high levels of activity in Freight and Group Charter. However, as expected, activity in Private Jets and Safety & Security remained notably lower than in previous years.
Group Charter has continued to carry out significant repatriation and evacuation work related to the COVID-19 pandemic, flying people back to their home countries from around the world. In addition, the team has been involved in flying agricultural workers into the UK from elsewhere in Europe, and has seen increased demand for corporate shuttles from the UK and US customers who have valued their employees travelling in a more controlled environment. Private jet activity remained very weak, reflecting wider aviation trends as people have followed government advice globally against non-essential travel.
The group continued to see high demand for its freight services and its team was extremely busy in April, notably flying emergency shipments of protective personal equipment on behalf of a number of customers; this was set to continue into May. Activities in Safety have been adversely impacted by COVID-19, as government restrictions have led to a significant drop in aviation industry activities, resulting in a temporary reduction in demand for training, consulting and quality assurance from both airline and airport customers. However, Redline recently won a five-year contract with international facilities management company OCS Group UK to support Her Majesty’s Courts and Tribunals Service.