Gama Aviation is growing its on-fleet and direct charter business in response to the possibility of changing travel restrictions in the second half of the year (H2), the introduction of vaccine passports and the low touchpoint customer journey that business charter offers over airlines.

Under the leadership of Adam Neaves,  head of Charter, the new team will comprise:  Wendy Murphy, Emma Suddaby-Brown, Jo Jurd based in Farnborough, UK and Ghada Fawzi based in Dubai.

Neaves said: “I have known both Wendy and Emma for many years and the opportunity to bring them into the Gama Aviation family was one we could not pass up. Their expertise and reputation within the direct charter market is unsurpassed, and we are fortunate to have them onboard. I believe they will be a great asset to our charter teams. I know they will produce great results as we all move out of these restricted times.”

Murphy and Suddaby-Brown ran Direct Air Charters, their own charter brokerage for over 17 years, specialising in delivering charter tours and multi destination trips in the entertainment, sports and travel sectors. Gama said their experience adds “significant advantage to our capabilities in providing aircraft charter solutions, improving our market offering”.

Murphy and Suddaby-Brown said: “We are excited to be working within and alongside the charter department at Gama Aviation embracing the challenges for our next chapter. We appreciate this will improve the service we can offer with back up from a 24/7 operations team and the existing in-house charter department. Having known and worked alongside Gama Aviation for over 30 years, we know that the company shares our passion and values, and we look forward to being a part of the Gama Aviation family.”

Jurd joins Gama at its global HQ in Farnborough, whilst Fawzi joins at the firm’s FBO in Sharjah, United Arab Emirates. Both are experienced operators who  have been brought in to increase charter utilisation of the fleet, grow Gama’s broker relationships and l re-establish the firm in the aircraft charter marketplace.

New additions to the charter fleet include a Bombardier Challenger 650 based in Jersey, Channel Islands and two transient Bombardier Globals, an Express and a 5000, on the group’s new Cayman AOC. During the pandemic Gama has also seen a rise in medical repatriation work that combines both the charter team with Gama Aviation’s Special Mission medical team.