Capital Air Charter acquired by Rigby Group
Exeter Airport, UK-based Capital Air Charter Ltd became part of Rigby Group PLC on 27 August.
Exeter Airport-based Capital Air Charter Ltd, which does business under both the Capital Air Charter and Capital Air Ambulance brands, became part of Rigby Group PLC on 27 August. Capital Air Charter offers executive corporate and private chartered flights, medical repatriation and urgent freight services throughout Europe. The services will continue to operate under their own brands as plans for new growth are finalised, said Rigby Group.
“This is a hugely significant announcement for both companies, one that will allow us to develop and realise its potential … in a way that simply wasn’t possible in the past,” said Capital Air Charter managing director and chief pilot Malcolm Humphries. He added that being part of the Rigby Group would enable the company to capitalise on opportunities that it previously couldn’t.
The Rigby Group portfolio includes British International Helicopters (BIH) and also Exeter Airport. The Group said it plans to grow Capital Air Charter’s market share extensively over the next few years and to develop both its aeromedical services and its contracted charter capabilities. Group chairman and chief executive Sir Peter Rigby said: “I am delighted to welcome everyone at Capital Air Charter to our fast-growing team. Over the last two decades, they have worked hard to establish the company as the Southwest’s largest air ambulance and private air charter operator with an enviable reputation, and I am very much looking forward to working together as we continue to expand operations and build on that success.”
A statement from Rigby Group noted that Capital Air Charter was ‘launched 23 years ago with a single aircraft from an office based around the founders’ kitchen table’. It now operates the air ambulance service in Guernsey, provides emergency back-up to medical services in Jersey and the Isle of Man, and supplies emergency repatriation services. The firm’s fleet of fixed-wing aircraft comprises five Piper Chieftains and three King Air Turboprop craft.