London-based Air Charter Service had its best month on record in July, despite a fall in UK cargo business.

Group chief executive, Justin Bowman said the company had organised more than 1,100 charters in the month, or one every 36 minutes.

He added: “Full cargo charter numbers did appear to suffer a little in the UK, however European business was stable and we saw impressive growth in our Asian offices as well as Australia, which has got off to an excellent start, after opening earlier this year.

"Our on-board courier division has also enjoyed strong growth throughout the year and contributed to July’s record.”

Most of the growth though was fuelled by private jet business, up almost 20% year on year.