WORLD – Private aviation services provider Air Partner, in an interim statement, says it expects to hit profit expectations despite a fall in business from governments.
Deals including Air Partner flying 7,000 car dealers from 53 countries to Marrakech for the launch of the new Range Rover helped contribute to a pre-tax profit for the first half of the year nearly doubling to £1.3m.
New customers from the oil and gas sectors and tour operators had “mitigated the impact of reduced government and conference and incentive revenues,” the company said.
“Freight revenues remain at a significantly lower level than the prior year and the outlook for the global freight market remains challenging,” the company added, saying that “despite the continuing challenges” facing aviation and the global economy it is trading profitably and is debt-free.
Air Partner also announced, 4 June, the launch of new weekly cargo service from Frankfurt to Sochi for the 2014 winter Olympics on the Russian Black Sea coast.
The ‘Sochi Express’, the company says, will fill a much needed gap in the cargo market, providing direct access to Sochi for the first time.
Mike Hill, Regional Manager of Air Partner Freight Group, based in the Germany office, said: “Access to Sochi is currently very limited; many freight shipments route via Moscow and are then trucked on to Sochi, involving a long transit time. Air Partner’s Sochi Express is the only non-stop air service currently scheduled between Europe and Sochi.
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