Air Partner posts strong first half as Qatar crisis buoys charter market

Rising demand for airfreight and supply chain disruption across other modes buoyed earnings for U.K.-based aircraft charter service company Air Partner. The aviation services group posted a £4 million preliminary pre-tax profit for the first half of the financial year, up 33 percent over the £3 million reported in the same period last year. 

The air charter firm’s freight operations were buoyed by a sudden demand for air freight charters when Saudi Arabia and its Gulf-region allies launched a diplomatic assault against Qatar, sealing of the land borders to the peninsula, which, in turn, triggered a surge in airfreight into Doha.

“The blockade of Qatar by several of its neighbors has created new opportunities for airfreight to bypass surface transport alternatives that are now closed,” said Gerald Khoo, an analyst with Liberum Capital Limited.

Air Partner also said that its brokering division, comprising Aircraft Charter and Remarketing, performed especially well during the first half.

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