As the son of a pilot, Chris Leach had aviation in his blood, and in 1990 from the basement of his home in Kingston Upon Thames he looked at the aircraft charter market and saw an opportunity. Although saturated it was still missing something and his experience in the aviation industry, starting with Saturn Airways in the 70s had taught that personal service is what makes a difference. Customers want to be treated well and they want to trust who they’re dealing with – the latter being something many companies were neglecting.

Chris believed there was space for another aircraft charter company, but one that focused solely on exceptional service and building long lasting relationships with its customers. He believed that if you went that extra mile for them then they would always come back and with that blueprint he would build a business, thus Air Charter Service (ACS) was born.

After struggling to pay the mortgage whilst managing his fledgling business, Chris offered his spare room to Kingston University to house a student. Little did he know that that student, Justin Bowman, would turn out to be an aviation enthusiast whom, after spending his placement year working with Chris in the basement, would end up the CEO of ACS today.