Aircraft charter broker Air Charter Service has had a record first half to its financial year, with revenue hitting $770 million for the period February 1 to July 31, marking an increase of 49% on the same period last year. 

The company said its major divisions of cargo, private jets and group travel were “hugely outperforming” last year’s figures. 

Founder and chairman Chris Leach (pictured) said: “Last year was our record year, with revenue of $1.8 billion, but at the halfway point we weren’t in as good shape as we are for this one. All three divisions of cargo, private jets and group travel have truly outdone themselves.

“Over the past two years we’ve been fortunate enough to have been very successful, in no small part due to the diversity that our global presence and three main divisions gives us. Different divisions and regions peaked at different times over last two years but, for this year so far, the peaks seem to have come all at once.”

The company said private jet revenue was up 56% on last year, tracking at nearly 25% above the pre-pandemic levels of 2019. 

Leach added: “We saw an increase in the number of customers booking by around 15% despite the unprecedented spike in new customers last year as travel restrictions were lifted, but our live flight numbers exceeded this with 32% growth. This increase in flights per customer was driven both by our jet card offering being increasingly popular with regular charterers and our position as a broker, meaning that we were winning a bigger proportion of flights when up against airlines who were struggling for availability.

“Regionally our largest market for private jets continues to be the US, which saw 57% growth in revenue. We did however see strong growth of 45% in every region – apart from the CIS, following our exit from our business in Russia.”

Leach said the cargo industry “remains strong” with the company’s cargo division generating 44% more revenue than at the halfway point of 2021. Revenue for group travel for the half year was also up 78% on 2021, he said. 

“The largest growth, however, is in our EBITDA [earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization] – rising by more than three times last year, to a record $70.4 million for the year to date,” he said.

“We expect that much of the market will slow down in H2, and we do not expect to see anywhere near the level of growth we saw in H1. However, we expected the same for H1 of this year and look where we are, so I guess there is all to play for in the remainder of the year.”