27 February 2023: It was a great weekend for Ireland as they beat Italy in Rome on Saturday to edge closer to being crowned the Guinness Six Nations rugby champions. Smart Aviation was in the midst of all the celebrations as we transported over 3500 loyal Irish fans to Rome to watch their team soar to victory. 

Meticulously arranged by Smart, the Irish fans travelled on charters from Dublin Airport and Cork Airport to Rome’s Leonardo da Vinci-Fiumicino Airport. All of the charters operated seamlessly and James Gregory (Head of VIP Charters) and Jamie Milsom (ACMI & Operations Support Assistant) from the Smart team were on hand in Dublin to support the vast number of fans through the check in process and to assist with a prompt departure. Smart’s Managing Director Mark Hawkins travelled to Rome to ensure all of the charters arrived on time and returned safely back to Ireland on Sunday and Monday. Clive Head, Smart’s Senior Sports Broker, flight-watched all the departures from Smart HQ.

Smart’s involvement in the Six Nations last weekend didn’t end there though; the team also arranged four charters from Glasgow Airport and Edinburgh Airport to Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport transporting 500 Scottish fans to the highly anticipated France v Scotland match. 

Mark Hawkins, Smart Aviation’s Managing Director, said: “It’s been a whirlwind couple of weeks with all our charters for the Six Nations tournament and the fun is far from over. It really is our favourite time of year and we’re excited about upcoming charters in the next couple of weeks as the tournament comes to a climax. ”

Smart Aviation was founded in 2005 by Managing Director Mark Hawkins, an established sports charter specialist with over 30 years’ experience in senior operational roles within the travel and aviation industry, including managing sports charters at Excel Airways. Over the last 17 years, Mark has led Smart Aviation to become the leaders in global sports chartering. Mark is still very active in sports chartering, frequently providing air travel for global sports teams to key sporting fixtures including Champions League and Premier League football matches, as well as to ice-hockey, boxing, basketball, golf, motorsport and cricket tournaments.

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