With the draw for the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia completed on 1 December, aircraft charter specialist, Air Charter Service, is expecting a boom in business as it foresees its services forming an essential part of logistics for the competition.
Group director of ACS’s Commercial Jets division, Matthew Purton, commented: “The 2018 championship in Russia throws up a variety of problems with regards to getting people around. Russia is a huge country and the distance between England’s last two group matches is more than 1,000 miles. Driving between Nizhny Novgorod and Kaliningrad is a long coach ride!
With only Russian registered airlines being able to perform domestic flights in the country, this drastically limits the choice of aircraft able to transport the teams and fans from hotels and training camps to matches.
ACS had a ‘practice run’ with the Confederations Cup in June and July 2017, flying in five of the eight teams involved.
Purton added: “I believe that we are in the best possible position to offer clients the best solutions for next year. We have two offices in Russia, one in Moscow and one in St Petersburg. A quarter of the 40 matches in the tournament will be played in those two cities. The fact that we have a Russian bank account will mean easier transactions than those companies using dollars, euros or sterling and we will be looking to position some of our experts on site at the airports to make sure everything runs smoothly.”
ACS has 20 worldwide offices and has annual revenue close to half a billion dollars. The company was formed in 1990 by chairman Chris Leach and CEO Justin Bowman in a basement, and now employs 400 staff worldwide.
Photo Credit: Sputnik
