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Air Charter Service Plc (ACS), the UK-based worldwide passenger and cargo air charter broker, today (July 24) announced the opening of its new office in Central, in Hong Kong. This marks the companyˇ¦s expansion into Asia.
There has been exceptional growth in private jet usage in the region, with official figures from Hong Kong International Airport showing steady annual growth of between 35% and 40% in executive jet movements since 2003, a trend which is set to continue throughout Asia. ACS has opened its office in Hong Kong so it is ideally positioned to service this growing Asia-Pacific and Australasian market.
Mr Mike Walsh, Director, ACS Hong Kong will head up the new site supported by a team of charter brokers trained in London to handle passenger and cargo enquiries in Cantonese, Putonghua, English and Korean. He said,ˇ§Serving the Asia-Pacific region from Hong Kong sees the realisation of a long term dream for ACS.ˇ¨ In explaining the decision to open an office in Hong Kong, he said, ˇ§The opening of the office here in Hong Kong has been driven by our analysis of customer demand. This is a huge opportunity for ACS. Business in Hong Kong, China and the region in general is undertaken face-to-face so it was vital that we established a key team here in China.ˇ¨
Mr Tony Bauckham, Managing Director, ACS said, ˇ§This is a significant move for ACS, our established global offices network in London, New York, Dubai and Moscow have seen an overall increase in flights consisting of both passenger and cargo of 285% over the last four years and we know that by expanding our presence into Asia these growth figures will be sustained.ˇ¨
Associate Director-General of Investment Promotion at Invest Hong Kong (InvestHK), Mr Charles Ng, welcomed ACS's expansion here. He said, ˇ§Hong Kongˇ¦s strategic location at the heart of Asia and gateway to China coupled with its enduring business advantages makes the city Asiaˇ¦s most popular city for international business; nearly 3,900 overseas companies have based their regional headquarters or regional offices in Hong Kong. These businesses are a ready market offering unrivalled growth opportunities for aviation companies such as ACS. I wish ACS every success in their new venture.ˇ¨
Air Charter Service (ACS) is a worldwide passenger and cargo air charter company. It was founded in the UK in 1990 and posted an annual turnover of US$175 Million last year providing private aviation and air cargo services to governments, NGO's, corporations and high net worth individuals, shippers and freight forwarders. For more information, please visit www.aircharterservice.com.
InvestHK is the award-winning department of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government responsible for attracting and facilitating inward investment into the city, by providing free services and support to help overseas and Mainland companies establish or expand their business presence in Hong Kong. For more information, please visit www.InvestHK.gov.hk.
Ends/Thursday, July 24, 2008
Issued at HKT 17:01
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