Air Partner charters last minute flight to Florida for German orchestra so the show can go on

Air Partner, the global aviation services group, recently came to the rescue of orchestra travel management company Luxreisen, when a snow storm in New York led to the cancellation of German orchestra Bamberg Symphony’s scheduled flight to Daytona, Florida.

Within a few short hours of the initial enquiry coming into Air Partner’s German office, the team located a suitable Boeing 737-800, operated by Eastern Air Lines, which was able to fly the orchestra out just eight hours later. The smaller instruments, such as violins, violas, oboes, clarinets and trumpets, accompanied the musicians as hand luggage, while the larger ones were transported down to Florida by van before the storm started.

The entire flight ran smoothly from start to finish: the group were able to use the private terminal at JFK airport, which meant that they didn’t have to queue and they flew straight to Daytona without any further hassle or delay. They arrived in the Florida city well-rested for their concert at The Peabody Auditorium the next day.

The entire flight went off without a hitch, but was not without its challenges due to the quick turn-around required. However, the Air Partner team managed to pull it off due to their good relations with the airlines, the co-operation between the German and US offices, and Air Partner’s financial strength, which meant it could prepay for the flight.

Annette Lux, Managing Director at Luxreisen, said: “We couldn’t have been happier with the flight solution found by Air Partner. Thanks to them, classical music lovers in Daytona did not have to miss out on seeing the Bamberg Symphony live. We have worked with Air Partner for 14 years now and are always extremely happy with the service the service they provide.”

Ishak Mutlu, Head of Commercial Jets & Travel at Air Partner Germany, added: “Luxreisen are a longstanding, much valued client of ours, and we were delighted that we were able to use our extensive experience of arranging time-critical operations to get the orchestra to Daytona in good time for their performance. Arranging a charter flight at such short notice and to such a tight deadline is never easy, but our team have the expertise and connections to make it happen.”

Air Partner has over 50 years’ experience working with the music sector, arranging flights for rock stars and pop artists as well as maestros of musical theatre and the classical music world. The Private Jets team enjoyed a particularly busy 2016 in the industry, organising over 120 flights to 90 airports across four continents. This included flying world famous DJs and numerous other high profile solo artists to and from gigs around the world.