Tim Procter believes there is a gap in the market for large aircraft charter

Don't overlook the large ad-hoc sector, says Tim Proctor

The large ad-hoc charter market is often forgotten simply because the big airlines' core business involves very high utilisation flying, perhaps in excess of 4,500 hours per annum. That's because brand new 180-seaters at $90m each require bank funding over many, many revenue hours. And so the holiday charter airlines never let the engines go cold, typically flying three Mediterranean rotations every day in the summer. Even in winter there could be a morning ski flight followed by a rotation to Sharm el Sheikh, so that's the whole day taken up.

But there are always gaps in the programme, so the broker's skill is to find them and be able to market them to the right buyers such as conference and incentive organisers who often plan big events that might match large airliner ad-hoc availability. We have just completed a car launch to Jerez in Spain flying 500 dealers over in three Boeing 737-800s, where each group completed a test drive through the mountains and enjoyed a gala dinner and presentation within 48 hours. Logistically it would be impossible to plan that using scheduled low-cost carriers.

Even long-haul carriers can have downtime which allows them to be available for a bespoke charter, and the guaranteed revenue from such a fixture will be in excess of the likely scheduled service yield if it is out of season. Some of the US sports teams have chartered Boeing 747s to fly across to Europe simply because it's winter.

The key to this market is keeping in touch with the major airlines and not bombarding them with charter requests that will never come to fruition. That's down to the experience of the broker and it is that skill that will get you the best availability and rates when you have 1,000 passengers to fly.

The old adage of “it's not what you know but who you know” is very true in the large ad-hoc charter market. That's how Air Charter Travel has been so successful in this specialised segment which annually accounts for over £15m in turnover and involves big airliner flights that, quite literally, cover the globe. Tim Procter 
managing director Air Charter Travel Ltd