The rebound continues for Waltzing Matilda Aviation

Following an understandably quiet April and first half of May Boston-based jet charter operator, Waltzing Matilda Aviation (WMA), has seen an uptick in business over the last couple of weeks.

Based on levels of activity at its home base - Laurence G Hanscom Field Airport in Bedford, Massachusetts - WMA’s CEO, John Thomas, believes business is coming back faster than for some of the bigger national players who have been forced to furlough crew during the downturn.

At the end of May Thomas revealed that WMA has been fielding up to 50 jet charter enquiries a day up from 5-10 just two weeks ago with an imbalance of clients wanting to fly from Florida to the north east. This week he told Resilient Aviation that, “The rebound continues. The initial burst was the usual (wealthy individual) migration from Florida to the north east marking the traditional spring migration. Over the past week we have seen more enquiries for business related trips - trips from the north east to the mid-west, so it looks like business people are getting back on the road.”

With the FED (Federal Excise Tax) holiday until the end of December, as well as low fuel prices, Thomas added that now is one of the cheapest times to fly privately. “We have picked up a number of new customers who have already made the decision not to allow their staff to fly commercially for the foreseeable future and therefore see private aviation as the only viable option.”

Chloe (Wilson) Greenbank wrote her first airline magazine nearly two decades ago and has been immersed in aviation magazines ever since. She is a highly experienced editor and reporter who has worked for over a decade in the publishing sector specialising in the global aerospace industry. As senior editor at one of the world’s leading travel media companies, Ink, she was tasked with launching and overseeing various titles including two inflight magazines for Brussels Airlines. With a solid understanding of the inflight market, she has also contributed to magazines for airlines including easyJet, MyTravel, Thomas Cook, Virgin Express, Ryanair, British Mediterranean Airways, Air Burkina and Korongo Airlines.

In 2017 Chloe moved over to the B2B publishing industry when she joined HMG Aerospace for whom she edits Regional Gateway and contributes to a number of titles including LARA and Inflight. She also contributes to the Times Aerospace Group’s African Aerospace. Having strengthened her knowledge and understanding behind the global aviation community Chloe has been a working journalist on the Emerald Media team since early 2018, primarily supporting its client Air BP.

BlueSky Business Aviation News | 4th June 2020 | Issue #560

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