Between August and October, 1,445 charters were operated, and combined with strong performance in other business sectors, ACS achieved its highest ever quarterly revenue of £321.1m.
Dan Morgan-Evans, Group Cargo Director says that due to a lack of passenger flights, charters are increasingly the only option to move cargo especially for important deadlines like Christmas.
ACS has also helped with humanitarian crises such as providing aid to Haiti following the earthquake in August, and providing assistance in Afghanistan.
He says: “We arranged transportation of several hundred tonnes of relief goods, including medical kits and food supplies to Afghanistan following the troubles in the country in July and August. Our group charter division also helped to evacuate almost 25,000 people out of the region in that same period.”
Chris Leach, Founder and Chairman of ACS says supply chain issues are a major reason for the strong performance, with the strongest demand coming from Asia due to drastically reduced belly capacity.
He says: “Our speciality in finding these solutions, along with our strong presence in Asia, has meant that we have been able to find solutions that others simply haven’t.”
Charter prices are at record levels and airline rates have increased significantly due to aircraft being positioned for flights further away, increasing operation costs.
Leach says: “Just last month we paid $2m for a trans-Pacific flight for the first time – it was on a Boeing B777, a flight that would normally cost less than $750,000.”
He adds: “This period of disruption has lasted much longer than we, and everyone else, first forecast and it is currently showing no signs of slowing down. Our total revenue for this past quarter was more than our turnover was for the whole of 2015!”