Oxygen 4 Bolsters the Board

Wednesday 15th October, 2008

Oxygen 4 Aviation approaches its fourth birthday in 2009 with the recruitment of its fourth director. Craig Middleton, former Business Development Director of Starflight Aviation and former Managing Director of fixed base operator Midwest Executive, joined the UK-based air charter broker effective October 1. He will help steer the company into new markets, building on the success directors Mark Green, Steven Jack and Rod Glassford have been experiencing, especially in the Russian air charter market, where inside three years, Oxygen 4 has built up a strong profile.

“Joining the team of Oxygen 4 was a very easy decision to make, with the fellow directors all sharing and wanting the same vision of building the most successful and independently owned charter company,” Middleton said. He intends to “concentrate on moving Oxygen 4’s brand forward - on to a world wide scale.”

“We are a young, energetic and forward thinking company and Craig shares that ethos,” said Director Mark Green. “Together, we will be looking to expand our business horizons and Craig’s experience in other areas of the industry will be invaluable in achieving these goals.” Oxygen 4, while based in the UK, is especially active in Europe, chartering private jets from Germany, Austria and Switzerland, primarily. Most of its present clientele activity is concentrated in Russia, the Middle East and Asia, the latter, a relatively new and expanding market for private air charter.

Record month for charter in August

Despite the challenging economic conditions and the recent sharp rise in fuel costs, Oxygen 4 has not seen a fall off in clients chartering aircraft. Indeed, in August, it achieved a record month with a near £2.5m of charter. Director Steven Jack noted: “At the top end of the spectrum, the longer and medium range private jets, where we tend to specialise, are still very much in demand. Where we are seeing a drop is in the number of bookings being taken for smaller aircraft.”

Independently-owned Oxygen 4, which has its headquarters in West Sussex and also has offices at Pinewood Studios and Hollywood, Los Angeles, closed its third financial year (2007-2008) at the end of March with revenues topping £18 million, ranking Oxygen 4 as one of the leading executive jet brokers.

The company will be showcasing its expertise in the Middle East at the end of October, exhibiting at the Business Travel Show in Dubai. “Middle Eastern clientele have historically been big users of executive jets, so at this exhibition we will be outlining our commitment to do more in this region,” added Director Rod Glassford.

Oxygen 4 has appointed Emerald Media, the established specialist aviation PR agency, based in Hampshire, UK, with offices in Spain and Germany, to handle its external public relations. Emerald has a number of clients in the business aviation sector, including ExecuJet Aviation Group and PremiAir.

For more information see www.oxygen-4.com.