Simon Moore has over 40 years of experience in the aviation industry, working his way up from a junior assistant to now serving as senior vice president of Group Charter at Air Partner, a Wheels Up Company and provider of global aviation services.
But the Englishman’s introduction to the aviation industry — and the takeoff of a career that would place him among the world’s highest-profile missions — was a twist of fate. He had applied for a job in the accounts department of a company he had never heard of, opting to skip college in favor of real-world experience.
“I walked in the door, started talking with HR, and she just said to me, ‘You’re not an accounts person,’” Moore recalled.
Instead of turning him away, she directed him to a department she thought might be a better fit.
“I walked into this room and there was this group of people sitting there with banks of phones, boards, radios — and they’re all in uniforms similar to a pilot’s,” he said.
Immediately, he knew he had found his path.
“Yeah, that’s what I want to do,” he told her.
At 17, Moore was fresh out of school and eager to start. Over the years, he gained experience in every department of flight operations — dispatching aircraft, loading sheets for the Concorde, managing diversions, and coordinating flights from one aircraft to another.
He quickly moved through ground and flight operations, eventually becoming a station manager with assignments in Glasgow, West Berlin — before the fall of the Berlin Wall — Manchester, and back to Glasgow.
His career then took him to London, where he worked at an aviation brokerage and met the woman who would become his wife. In 1995, Air Partner approached him with an opportunity to join the company. The transition felt natural — Air Partner’s global presence and room for growth appealed to Moore, who was ready for the next step.
He managed the Group Charter division before advancing to director of private jets. In 2008, he took a sabbatical to help launch an airline in Australia, where he lived for a year before returning to the U.K. A year and a half later, he was invited to move to Washington, D.C., further expanding his career on the international stage.
White House Work
Air Partner works with government organizations, including the White House Travel Office. Moore’s connection began in the late 1990s and gave him the opportunity to travel with a press plane for Air Force One, a contract still in place today.
“We’ve just renewed our relationships with the new administration, helped by the fact that we supported their campaign aeroplanes,” Moore said. “We flew the vice president-elect, and we had a press plane at one point running alongside the main campaign aircraft, which was fun.”
Air Partner’s role continued through the transition period, including procuring an aircraft for J.D. Vance during the presidential campaign. The company’s deep industry knowledge and strong relationships with commercial departments made the work possible, he said.
Throughout the campaign, Air Partner maintained a 100% dispatch reliability record.
“We’re very proud of that record and that has translated into us maintaining our relationship with the administration,” Moore said.
Global Aviation Operations
Moore’s overall background is in government and procurement at a high level. Along with arranging flights for other high-ranking leaders and running aircraft alongside multiple campaigns in the United States, he has also supported global operations, including working with the royal family in the United Kingdom.
From his experience in operations, Moore also understands dealing with procurement and the need for precise communication and attention to detail when it comes to filling needs.
Unlike commercial systems, the private jet charter industry relies on an on-demand system in which procurement and awareness of fleet size, availability and location is key to success.
Air Partner was also involved in the evacuation of forces in Afghanistan in 2021.
“We were operating huge numbers of flight programs using U.K., European and U.S. aircraft that we had based over in the U.K.,” he said. They were operating regular charters into and out of the theater of operations in the Middle East.
“We went to Kabul just at the very end of the war when the first charters went in to bring people back out,” Moore continued. “In the same way as during the Balkans conflicts. I spent most of my time flying in and out of Sarajevo, Banja Luka, Skopje, a lot of the staging points for troop movements into those areas — once the fighting had finished, obviously. And I was on one of the very first charters into Pristina at the end of that war, into that airport, which was very eye-opening.”
Strengths in Navigating Market Challenges
Air Partner relies on what Moore describes as a “three-legged stool” for success, built on a relationship between Air Partner’s global enterprise, the on-demand charter services of Wheels Up in the U.S., and commercial airline Delta.
Together, they navigate a tough landscape in which market demand for aircraft is high while fleet availability can sometimes be low.
Moore said this challenge is a distinct shift compared to the landscape of the industry about a decade ago. Many airlines at that time were getting consistent business from military organizations such as the Defense Department, where they were purchasing additional aircraft. However, political shifts caused that to change, and COVID sped up the charter market contraction even more. Governments today face challenges with limited availability of charter airplanes.
Air Partner fills that gap by leveraging its global offices, which maintain constant communication with aircraft operators, airline operations departments and commercial teams. This real-time coordination helps the company track aircraft availability, movements and scheduling changes to match client needs.
“While there are still moments where there is a very tight hold on availability,” Moore said. “We help to bridge the gaps with our knowledge of what aircraft are ready and available.”
Air Partner can also provide alternative solutions when there isn’t an exact aircraft match available.
Technological changes present opportunities for improvement. Artificial intelligence and automation play a role in the manifesting process.
“For example, with the White House Travel Office, we made a bespoke portal that press members use to register themselves,” he said. “That’s enabled us to speed the process, and it’s also useful for billing post-flight.”
In the past, getting prices to clients took several days, but with the implementation of technology, Air Partner can significantly accelerate that work.
Building Government Relationships
When it comes to building strong relationships, many Air Partner team members have backgrounds and expertise in various areas, including connections to the company’s clients through past roles. Behind the scenes, a finance team ensures diligence in procurement by moving funds quickly to speed up the process.
“Flights arranged at the very last minute involve the entire team,” Moore said. “And that is, I think, where our strong point is. We have an incredibly talented team of professionals who are working around us all the time, with hundreds of years of knowledge and experience in aviation.”
Future Growth
Looking ahead, Moore said Air Partner is seeking to constantly improve and adjust with the flow of the changing industry. That includes ways to better supply clients on the commercial side, as well as add value to clients beyond what they currently receive.
“These are interesting times,” he said. “It’s a challenging market. You never know what’s going to come at you. But at the same time, if you’ve built the foundations, then you can always weather that storm — and I’ve seen quite a few of these cycles over the years.”
Moore and his wife of 30 years have two grown children. In his spare time, he enjoys traveling and restoring classic Porsches with his son. But one of his favorite hobbies is simpler.
“When I tell people what I do, they’re like, ‘Crikey! You’ve been here, you’ve been there . . . ’ But actually, my biggest pleasure is sitting on my lawnmower and mowing my two-and-a-half acres in my back garden on a Saturday afternoon when the sun is shining.”