SUSSEX air charter group Air London has reported half-year pre-tax profits up more than 20 per cent to £1.354 million.

The Crawley-based company is the world's largest air charter broker. In the UK the strongest performances were in the executive aircraft division, which charters corporate jets, and the commercial aircraft division which handles airliners. Chairman Tony Mack said the figure had been achieved in the face of the costs involved in setting up its subsidiary operation in the U.S. Mr Mack said: "Sales since January 31 have been encouraging, although the short term future in our market is always difficult to predict. "Our immediate plans are to get the newly opened subsidiaries into a profitable position and continue our geographic expansion throughout the world." Turnover was up 19.5 per cent to £21.35 million, earnings per share rose to 8.8p and the dividend will be 3p per share.

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