Richard Mumford is guiding BACA around the wider charter market community

A busy few months

I am constantly amazed by the skills and professionalism of our membership, and the BACA Excellence awards provide a fantastic example of this. My congratulations go to all of our winners. I was truly humbled by the recipient of the Chairman's Award, Robert Fallow, who has risked his life regularly for decades while I have been sitting behind my desk with a pen in my hand. October's BACA awards luncheon was a great day with nearly 400 of our members and guests coming together to celebrate the best of our market.

My thanks go to all of our sponsors from the day, and in particular to Dassault Aviation, our headline sponsor. Since becoming BACA chairman, I have realised just how important the specialist broker is to the choice of aircraft for the flying customer. In many cases, the first step in booking a charter flight will be taken through a broker, and that will set the level of expectation and preferences for experience of charter flight going forward, right up to the purchase of the customer's own first aircraft. We are looking to work closely with manufacturers to help them to enthuse our members with their aircraft.

I spent Hallowe'en on a flight to Orlando, where the nightmare of the US election was put temporarily to one side by the attendees at NBAA-BACE. It was a fantastic event, and I really enjoyed seeing our members standing confidently in this competitive global environment. I am also grateful to our council members who attended and supported us, and in particular to London Biggin Hill both for their generosity in allowing me to work from their stand and for their wider hospitality in supporting us at the event.

I am conscious that we are often considered to have an exclusive focus on the corporate jet community (did I mention that we visited NBAA…?). However, as I have previously made clear, BACA is an association for ALL of the air charter market. To this end, I have been out visiting large airlines and other former members to inspire them with what we are trying to achieve. I am very keen to ensure that we work to the benefit of the whole market, from corporate aviation to large aircraft charter and cargo. We have taken the first steps down this road and will build on our profile and relationship with the wider market.

As if that isn't enough, we held our training day on 10 November. It was standing room only, with a record attendance. We also had our first main sponsor at the event, leading cyber-security experts Kroll and Kroll Ontrack, to whom we are very grateful. In the morning, we held our now traditional broker training sessions. The message from these is clear: all of those involved in any charter flight should communicate effectively and work in partnership to provide the very best service for the flying customer. I was really heartened by the willingness of the speakers and attendees to share their thoughts and experiences in such a considered and constructive manner.

In the afternoon, the mood darkened slightly with a specialist cyber crime forum. The session began with our members piecing together the anatomy of a charter transaction and identifying the points in the process that needed closest protection and scrutiny. Members then shared their approaches and thoughts as to minimising risk, before Kroll provided specialist guidance on the risks we face and how to address them. As before, I am very impressed with how effectively our members address these issues and their willingness to share their experiences to the benefit of the market as a whole.

I had hoped to put my feet up for a week or two after that, but there is so much going on at BACA that despite this run of activity, the next council meeting looks set to be a bumper session. I am very excited about some of these developments and look forward to announcing new initiatives to the market very soon. Richard Mumford, chairman, BACA