Charter broker Air Charter Service (ACS) is expanding its California operations after logging a record year. The company appointed Maddison Gerhardt to director of private jets, leading the company’s Los Angeles and San Francisco offices, and is hiring additional staff.
“The private aviation market in California was always buoyant pre-pandemic,” Gerhardt said. “We’ve seen a real bounce-back in the past 12 months with the return of the entertainment industry and business travelers flying again. Sales grew considerably and last year we saw 9 percent growth on 2019’s pre-pandemic levels.”
In particular, Gerhardt noted sales have “skyrocketed” on its jet card product, up by 127 percent year-over-year. “We saw a lot of new customers turn to private aviation during the pandemic and we are now seeing many of them upgrade to a jet card as a way to secure aircraft availability.”
The company last year recorded revenues of $1.8 billion. It operates from seven other offices in North America and 28 globally.
“We are looking to recruit talented aviation professionals to grow the team and drive forward from our record year and a strong first quarter to this one,” said Thomas Howe, CEO of ACS California. “With scheduled services not expected to fully return to pre-pandemic levels for several years, private aviation is going to continue to be in high demand for the foreseeable future.”