Tuesday’s most spoken about European destination at Smart Aviation HQ was the beautiful city of Athens, and here is why. Amongst many of our football flights Smart had an aircraft prearranged for a football team and staff.

Smart Operations monitor our charter flights around the clock. On the routine pre-operation checks Smart discovered a notification that Athens airside and ATC will go on strike during the event of our return charter flight. During the course of the day our operation team liaised with the aircraft supplier to maintain the most up to date information regarding the pending strike. At around 15.00 GMT Head of Charter Flight Operations Daniel Parker received a call from the supplier to reconfirm that Athens were due to go on an ATC strike at midnight local time.

“Our flight was due to return after midnight local time, we needed to get our passengers back to their destination. We quickly began to monitor and take control of the situation for our client,” said Daniel.

Smart Aviation have 15 years’ experience in aviation, our teams are fully trained and knowledgeable. This ensures that we provide an exceptional service at all times.

Whilst Daniel was working through a solution for our football team with his operations department and aircraft supplier, Head of VIP Charter James Gregory was contacted by a client from the opposing team to locate a private jet for their player. This player needed to arrive at his next destination in time for an upcoming match which he wouldn’t have made due to the strikes in Athens. Faced with the same issues with the strike information, James swiftly contacted one of his trusted Private Jet operators who shed further light on the situation at Athens.

“Time is of the essence when working around restrictions. We have all built a tremendous rapport with clients, agents and operators. An ATC strike as well as a ground handling strike in Athens meant we needed to start working fast for a swift solution,” commented James.

Our priority is always to put our passengers and their safety first and Smart Aviation are available 24/7.

“My team worked tirelessly and both the football team and the player were back where they needed to be. With added complexity of an ATC and ground handing strike its vital we call upon our knowledge, experience and relationships to resolve the issue and come through with the right solution for the clients. We work as a team here at Smart Aviation HQ and are always here to assist our clients during such challenging times,” said Mark Hawkins Managing Director – Smart Aviation.

Our experienced team are available 24/7 and treat each request uniquely, providing the best bespoke solution. Contact Smart Aviation today.