2023 is coming to an end and we’re reflecting on a phenomenal year which saw impressive growth across different disciplines of the business including sports charters, private jets and ACMI. 

Here’s a ‘Smart Look Back’ at 2023, where we celebrate the successes of our skilled and passionate team:

Football Frenzy

There has not been a month this year where we haven’t been involved in a leading football tournament, flying fans groups and teams across the world. We flew hundreds of West Ham fans to Italy to watch the Hammers beat ACF Fiorentina in the Europa Conference League Final in June, we chartered three aircrafts to take Newcastle United F.C. fans to a Champions League match against Dortmund in November, and we can’t say who for confidentiality reasons (our lips are always sealed) but we had the privilege of flying one of Europe’s greatest football teams of all time to a Champions League quarter final match in April.

Star quality private jet charters

We arrange so many private charters each year but sometimes we get very excited about the megastars we fly around the globe. This year, we chartered our first helicopter to the world-renowned Glastonbury Festival, arranged two flights for fans to watch Oleksandr Usyk defend his WBA, WBO and IBF heavyweight titles against Daniel Dubois, we operated an album launch promotional tour for a singing superstar, and handled a complex 72 hour schedule of premieres and promotional interviews in London, Frankfurt and Paris for a blockbusting movie. We flew an internationally acclaimed model from London to Milan for Milan Fashion Week, a notorious DJ to Cannes Film Festival after he was invited as a VIP guest to many of the prestigious parties at the event, and as the world watched, we flew a number of charters for a famous footballer to negotiate with his new club.

A tri-umphant year for rugby charters

Smart are the leaders in global sports charters, but it’s not just football.  Since January, the sports charter team has been heavily involved in all major rugby tournaments too. Smart Aviation thoroughly enjoyed working with Irish rugby fans during the Guinness Six Nations tournament, transporting over 3,500 loyal supporters to Rome where they were victorious over Italy. As well as flying Irish fans, we managed a comprehensive schedule of charter flights from other countries to stadiums across England, France, Ireland, Italy, Scotland and Wales. Smart was also massively involved in the 2023 Rugby World Cup, flying over 14,000 passengers to the tournament across the host country, France. 

Smart’s biggest ACMI year to date

2022 was a huge ACMI (Aircraft, Crew, Maintenance and Insurance) year for Smart and we are delighted that 2023 has surpassed it. We headed straight into 2023 seeing no signs of ACMI slowing down, and the team has been non-stop all year handling pressing requests. It wasn’t just the usual summer surge; we even headed into Q4 with leading airlines reaching out to Smart, requesting our assistance with fulfilling their seasonal demand out of the UK and Europe this autumn and winter. ACMI faced many challenges this year including lack of availability which drove the prices up, but Smart has continued to source cost-effective and appropriate aircrafts for long term leasing. 

Smart celebrates 18 years of charters to Lourdes

Smart Aviation’s comprehensive charter service to the world’s largest Catholic pilgrimage in Lourdes, transported over 40,000 passengers to the universal place of meeting, prayer and celebration of life. For the last 18 years, Smart Aviation has been running a substantial charter programme to the Holy French town, with departures from Dublin, Shannon and Cork in Ireland, as well as charters from regional UK airports including Glasgow, Edinburgh, Leeds and Southampton. Read more here. 

As always, we are available 24/7 to assist with any charter enquiries you may have.

The Smart Team wishes you all Happy Holidays and a healthy and prosperous New Year.

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