Reason for charter: Rugby World Cup 2007
As the appointed broker for all teams traveling between stadiums in France, Wales and Scotland, Air Partner undertook 41 flights over a six-week period for the 2007 Rugby World Cup. Planning to move 2,000 of the world’s top rugby professionals began 18 months before the first scrum and involved flights to and from 13 different airports, eight in France and five in other European countries. The right aircraft were sourced and secured. Airport slots, permits and inflight crew arranged. Flight schedules and passenger manifests planned. Catering, fast-track check-ins and transfers organized. All requested changes and logistical issues acted upon. The 24h Operations and Flight watch departments alerted. Client confidentiality respected. Other Commercial Jets contracts involved arranging charter of airliners for groups of supporters and corporate guests on behalf of event companies working for financial institutions. In addition, when England reached the final, our Private Jets team organized more than 20 last-minute flights for small parties of supporters desperate to get to Paris. Most were back-to-back same-day returns on Air Partner’s managed fleet of Learjet 45s.
Reason for charter: Special Olympics USA
Screeners manning a specially arranged security checkpoint at Orlando airport got a pleasant surprise when 500 people cheered and clapped as they completed what is often an unappreciated job. The group comprised the USA Special Olympics Team who flew with the assistance of Air Partner to Dublin for the World Summer Games 2003, the world’s largest sporting event that year.
Reason for charter: World Cup Final
On the day of football’s World Cup Final in 2006, Air Partner arranged charters accounted for a significant portion of the traffic at Berlin Tempelhof airport, which was ten times busier than usual. The company arranged for thousands of passengers to fly into Germany from across Europe and from as far away as Mexico, the US and Africa on aircraft of every size, up to and including the Boeing 747. Air Partner offices worldwide, but particularly those in the UK, Germany, France, Switzerland and the US, organized hundreds of flights for players, team officials, sponsors, supporters, competition winners and government VIPs.
Reason for charter: Real Madrid Asia Tour
Six weeks notice – that was all Air Partner was given to organize the inaugural pre-season tour of Asia for the renowned European soccer team Real Madrid. The immense logistics involved posed numerous problems, notably locating suitable top-quality aircraft and crew which would be available not only in the peak season but also for weeks at a time. The contract called upon sustained expertise in organizing exclusive charters for VIPs and groups. Using its worldwide presence and specialization to call in favors from contacts at this crucial time, Air Partner arranged for the transportation of soccer aces such as David Beckham, Zidane and Ronaldo 18,000 miles from Spain to China, Japan, Hong Kong and Thailand. Two aircraft, a Boeing 747 and an A330 clocked up 35,000 miles and almost 90 flights between them, including repositioning.
Reason for charter: USA Golf Tournament
A major US corporation was understandably disgruntled when its sponsored non-stop outbound travel arrangements to Ireland for the world’s top golfers turned into a fiasco. A Boeing 747 flight, promised by an Air Partner rival, was not only replaced by two old and short-range 737s which necessitated two stops, but one of them developed a mechanical problem resulting in a 12-hour delay. Organizers, not wanting a repeat on the return journey, made a frantic request to Air Partner to arrange an incident-free return. In less time than it takes to play 18 holes, Air Partner organized a Boeing 767 to fly from the US to Shannon to pick up all 100 passengers and jet them back to Pittsburgh. There, an Airbus A319 was waiting to take some of the party to their next tournament in Nevada.
