Air Charter Service has organised 70 chartered evacuation flights from Middle East with passengers arriving in Muscat, Oman to catch connecting flights home to the UK, California, China and Australia, with more departures scheduled in the coming days.
Following the US-Israel strikes on Iran on February 28 and Iran’s subsequent retaliation ACS Chairman Chris Leach said it immediately initiated an emergency response plan.
“This involved pulling all the information together on the available airports, airspace, and what we were able to do,” he said.
‘One of our main initial priorities was to evacuate the ACS staff from around the world who were still in the region on both business and also on holiday. Within 24 hours we had got everyone over the border and into Oman, from where they flew out of Muscat and caught connecting flights home to the UK, California, China and Australia.”
That included connecting flight to both Singapore and Hong Kong, as well as the UK, Leach told Travel Weekly.
“At first most of our charter flights were for people who just wanted to get out of the immediate vicinity as quickly as possible by private jet,” he said. “With Omani and Saudi airspace having remained open since the hostilities began, we identified Muscat and Riyadh to be the best airports for evacuations early on in the crisis. Oman was more popular initially, due to the visa requirements of Saudi and the extra distance to the border crossing.
“We stationed one of our Dubai team at Muscat airport, in order to oversee our charters and make sure everything ran as smoothly as possible. In the first few days we arranged more than 20 private jets from Muscat – the most popular destination being Istanbul, a big international hub, from where people could easily get connections home.
“As the crisis developed, the focus has shifted to larger aircraft, with groups travelling out of the region, predominantly for multinational corporations and governments. On Sunday evening we put on our own flight – a 180-seat A320-200 from Muscat to Athens – for individuals and small groups wanting to leave.
“Once the UAE airspace reopened, we started using Dubai’s Al Maktoum Airport and nearby Fujairah, which is a huge step in the right direction. With them opening, we’re also now helping Dubai residents wanting to return to their homes – either because they had left the region last week or were simply away at the time of the original attacks.
Air Charter Service is a global aircraft charter broker with 41 offices worldwide, spanning all six major continents. It offers private jet, commercial airliner and cargo aircraft charters, as well as onboard courier solutions.
Arranging more than 35,000 flights annually, and with revenue of more than US$1 billion for the past six years, it was formed in 1990 by Chris and Tina Leach in the basement of their house. It now employs more than 800 staff worldwide.
“We have a long history of reacting in similar emergency situations, and I believe that we have arranged more charters for this than any other company of our type over the past week or so,” Chris Leach said.
“I’m incredibly proud of our global team, who have joined forces to make sure these flights happen and that people got to where they need to be. And we’re hugely grateful to the airlines that have helped with the evacuations and have been willing to fly into the region to aid our customers.
“We sincerely hope that the hostilities end soon – it is a very worrying time for all involved. Whatever the timeframe we do feel that the knock-on effects to the aviation and travel industry will last for some time yet.”
Earlier this week, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese pleaded with Australians still stranded in the Middle East to consider taking the “limited” flights back home as the conflict in Iran continues.
The PM said on Tuesday that about 2600 Australians had returned but added that “significant challenges remain” in returning others home.
“There are around 115,000 Australians in the Middle East, around 24,000 of those in the UAE,” he said.
The cheapest charter flights out of Muscat to the UK, according to www.jet-bay.com, are in a 7-seater Citation XLS and will costs around US$60,000.
