ACS: Charter industry “very busy” since coronavirus outbreak

Air Charter Service (ACS) has revealed that the charter industry is being kept busy due to demands relating to the coronavirus outbreak.

Justin Lancaster, commercial director at ACS, explained: “Since the outbreak, our offices around the world have been arranging flights on local charter aircraft as the world deals with the travel disruption and overall cut to capacity to the region.

“We have flown everything from four passengers on a private jet, to 100 tonnes of surgical masks – it has been all systems go since the epidemic was first reported.

“We have also flown various relief cargo into the region, including, protective overalls, medical gloves and millions of surgical masks.

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Speaking of the difficulty in arranging flights amid the outbreak, due to regulations and restrictions, Lancaster added: “We have faced various challenges in booking the flights, including passengers requesting crew that had not been to China since the beginning of January, clients not willing to put their cargo on aircraft that have recently been to the region, obtaining diplomatic permits and staff from our three regional offices working from home, to minimise their risk of infection. Our US, European and Middle East offices have all also been involved in booking the charters.”

Air Charter Service also explained that it did not play a role in organising the UK evacuation flight arranged by the British government.