Aircraft charters key to getting production schedules back on track

Following an initial spike in demand in the past month, Air Charter Service anticipates a real boom in aircraft charters over the coming weeks to kick-start productions following the recent end to the near four month SAG-AFTRA strike.

The SAG-AFTRA (Screen Actors Guild – American Federation of Television and Radio Artists) reached a deal with studios on November 9th marking the end the 118-day strike that held up virtually all film and TV production. Mario Nicholas, ACS’s VP of Business Development, Entertainment, commented: “Aircraft charters have long played a key role in film and TV productions. The benefits of flying the cast, crew and equipment at the same time, and often on the same aircraft, make chartering a logical choice. A large cast and crew may have to fly into location on different flights, and the cargo might be arriving overland by truck. A delay with any one link in that chain may result in unnecessary downtime, extra hotel costs and general frustration. With everyone and everything arriving on the same flight, or on a schedule that you can tailor to best suit production needs, we expect that charters will become even more prevalent over the coming months as the studios look to kickstart their projects.

“We are already seeing an increase in requests for passenger aircraft charters, as well as cargo aircraft, for productions in early 2024. Our LA office, in particular, has seen a huge uptick in larger passenger aircraft requests from both film and TV production companies, as many of them in the region appreciate that charters are often the most cost-effective way of moving everyone and everything they need. They recently arranged a trip for a TV production where the actors, crew and filming gear all flew on the same Airbus A320, saving time and hugely cutting costs – the alternative was several separate flights, all arriving on different days.

“We are also seeing an increase across our European offices, including two bookings a couple of weeks ago which involved a passenger plane carrying the cast and crew to the Middle East, alongside a cargo aircraft carrying the large amount of production equipment, that both flew on the same day.

“Speaking with entertainment travel advisors and talent managers at a conference recently, the general consensus was that we will see a spike in interest and several bookings now. Then, by the end of this year, they will decide which projects are approved to move forward, and in Q1 of next year they expect to hit the ground running with the green-lit projects all booked.”