Business & GA

International charter broker Air Partner has acquired UK business jet operator Gold Air as it seeks to widen its portolio of products and re-establish a foothold in the operations market which it vacated 23 years ago.

Air Partner chief executive David Savile says: "We bring people into the market with our ad hoc charter and Jet Card, but once their travel needs increase and they start to look at purchasing their own aircraft we had nothing to offer them. Therefore it seemed a logical step to acquire Gold Air.

"Around 35% of our business is in the executive travel market," Savile adds. "We have been supplying third-party operators with up to 9,000h of charter a year and this is growing at an annual rate of 30%." However, he concedes that during peak periods or for last-minute bookings it can be very difficult to locate good quality capacity.

"Gold Air now gives us that quality and capacity," he says.