The Air Charter Association is holding its final Council meeting of 2019 on December 11^th. This will be a time to reflect on the major steps forward the Association has made this year; the year of its 70^th anniversary.

One of the most significant developments is the name change from the Baltic Air Charter Association to The Air Charter Association. The successful rebranding took place earlier this year with the aim of becoming a truly international organisation for air charter companies and their associated partners.

A key issue of 2019 has been illegal charter flights, brought into sharp focus with the tragic consequences of the flight for Emiliano Sala and the disappearance of his aircraft en route to Cardiff. The Association has been very proactive in recent months in campaigning to stop the practice of illegal charters and can rightly claim that awareness of the issue has been raised significantly, thanks to the diligent work of CEO Dave Edwards and the Council.

The Air Charter Association has always been a great believer in ensuring that members have the best opportunities to meet and network together, and ACE 19 in September proved to be the perfect occasion for this, with an action packed one-day event. More than 1,100 visitors attended the expo which delivered a series of presentations of great interest to delegates alongside a busy array of booth exhibits and excellent static display, with more than 20 aircraft. Yet another fantastic achievement for the Association during this year.

There were plenty of other opportunities for members and their guests to network, including two record breaking lunches in terms of attendance with its Spring Lunch and Autumn Awards Lunch. Another event, unique for 2019, was a 70^th anniversary celebration for the Association which took place in London on 4^th July. There was also our annual and extremely popular networking reception at Mr Pickwick in Geneva on the evening of Day 1 of EBACE.

2019 saw the exciting launch of the Air Charter Association’s Individual Broker Qualification training program and we were delighted to see that Level 1 resulted in a pass rate of 77%, with 13% achieving Distinction level.

The Air Charter Association has been supporting aviation charity fly2help for the last two years and has just confirmed it will continue to do so for a third year, in 2020. The Association has raised the highest ever amount for charity, for two consecutive years, for fly2help and so this was an easy decision to make. Funds raised by members have enabled the charity to provide a greater number of Air Smiles Days for children and adults living in difficult or life limiting conditions, as well as additional Aim High Weeks; week long skills advisory programmes that help young people learn about the different pathways into a career in aviation and aerospace.

Nick Weston, who became Chairman of the Association earlier in the year summed up his first months in office by saying “Looking back on 2019 it is staggering to see how much we have achieved this year.  I would like to thank all those people who have contributed to making 2019 such an outstanding and successful year for the Association. However, we will not rest on our laurels and are already working on our strategy to ensure we can deliver even greater value, representation and assistance for our members and the industry throughout the coming year and beyond.”