Page 5 - June 2015 Volume 9, Number 6

r, Medical Services
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Uses King Air to stay on Top
by Guy Warner
From humble beginnings, European- based Air Capital Charter has grown to be the leading and longest running charter operator in southwest England. Over the years, the company has added other specialized services, along with three Super King Air 200s, which has made it the leader it is today.
Almost 25 years ago, Malcolm Humphries and his wife, Lisa, began operations at Exeter Airport in Devon with a single Cessna 421 Golden Eagle and, as Malcolm says, “I was the pilot, my wife was operations manager, sales and accounts. This was at the time that the mobile phone network was in its infancy, and we were able to run the company while on the move, and also raising a small child, using the kitchen table as the operations desk.” The original focus in their first few years was charter flights, with the fleet increasing by three Piper PA31 Navajo Chieftains.
Air Ambulance operations commenced for Air Capital in the late 1990s, with basic stretchers fitted in the Cessna. This was a less than ideal solution, Malcolm describing the fundamental problems, “I found that
JUNE 2015
getting avgas in far flung international airports was very difficult, sometimes having to taxi to remote airport areas to plead with a non-English speaking flying club member to put 500 litres of fuel into my aircraft using a pump that was designed to put 20 litres into a Cessna 150, then having to pay cash whilst a patient was lying in the back of the aircraft on a stretcher in the searing heat before enduring a six-hour flight back to the UK.”
Malcolm and Lisa Humphries have grown their business into the leader it is today and it doesn’t look like they’ll be slowing down any time soon.
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