Founded

1990

Headquarters

London

Key People

Chris Leach, chairman; Justin Bowman, CEO

Number of Employees

513

Phone Number

(516) 432-5901 (U.S.)

Website

Air Charter Service

Air Charter Service

Based in Greater London near Wimbledon, Air Charter Service (ACS) arranges more than 23,000 charter flights per year and provides aircraft charter broker, lease, sales, and concierge services from offices on every continent except Antarctica. 

Literally born into aviation when his mother gave birth to him at London Stansted Airport (where his father worked as a pilot), company founder Chris Leach worked for a few small airlines before he founded ACS in 1990 in the Surbiton neighborhood of Greater London. His first transaction, an aircraft lease to the United Nations, sparked a wave of humanitarian aid–related charter flights over the next three decades including to Rwanda in 1994, Pakistan in 2005, Haiti in 2010 and 2016, and northern Africa in 2011. 

Still trying to simply pay his mortgage in 1991, Leach rented a room to university student Justin Bowman, who began to assist the company on a part-time basis. When he graduated from Kingston University London in 1995, Bowman joined ACS as a full-time charter broker and team leader in cargo sales. Soon after, the company opened its first international office in Moscow.

In 2000, ACS debuted an operations base in Ostend, Belgium, for a new managed fleet. Four years later, it opened a New York office. It added Dubai in 2006, Spain in 2007, Hong Kong in 2008, and Johannesburg and Paris in 2009. Amid the expansions, ACS celebrated booking 1,000 charters in a single year in 2005, and its largest contract ever, an $18 million deal with the UN, in 2009. Expansion continued in 2010 with offices opening in Germany, Canada, Brazil, and St. Petersburg in Russia. 

In 2012, the company added offices in India, China, and Kazakhstan and launched its first Empyrean jet card with a set minimum of £50,000. As of 2021, it offered three types of jet card accounts based on pricing. 

In 2013, the company opened its first South American office, in Sao Paulo, and chartered nearly 250,000 passengers on 7,415 contracts. By its 25th anniversary in 2015, it employed 300 people and had added offices in Miami and Geneva. An office in Sydney followed in 2016, the year the company reached an annual milestone of more than 12,500 contracts.

ACS reported revenue of £887 million for the fiscal year ending Jan. 31, 2021. It now has 30 offices around the world including its headquarters in Surbiton.