Group Executive Team

Mark Briffa

Chief Executive Officer

Mark started his career with Air Partner as a Commercial Jets broker in 1996 and joined the Board in 2006 as Chief Operating Officer, becoming Chief Executive Officer in April 2010. He has direct experience of air charter broking and wide knowledge of the private aviation sector worldwide, built up over more than 30 years' experience in the industry. 

Joanne Estell

Chief Financial Officer

 Joanne Estell joined the Board as Chief Financial Officer on 10 September 2018. A Chartered Management Accountant with over 20 years' experience, Joanne started her career at Whitbread Plc and held a number of senior finance roles at Smiths Group plc including Finance Director of Specialised Business at John Crane. Joanne brings a wealth of experience gained from senior finance and M&A roles at a number of listed and private companies. Her most recent CFO roles were at the AIM-listed Shield Therapeutics plc, the specialty pharmaceutical business, and, prior to this, at AIM-listed Stadium Group plc, a global manufacturer of technology lead products. Within her CFO roles, Joanne has developed particular expertise in financial disciplines and finance team management along with M&A and acquisition integration.

Tony Whitty 

EVP Remarketing & ACMI

Tony started his career in aviation in 1991 and in 1998 Tony became one of the founder members of Cabot Aviation, an aircraft remarketing company. Which represented aircraft owners as their exclusive remarketing agent and also undertook acquisition mandates on behalf of airlines, lessors and spares companies. It also assists airlines in sourcing aircraft on ACMI lease. In May 2015 Cabot was acquired by Air Partner, and Tony now heads up the Remarketing and ACMI business within Air Partner.  Tony is a board member of the ERA. a former committee member of the Aviation Club of the UK, and a member of ISTAT.

Kevin Macnaughton 

Managing Director, Charter

Kevin has a wealth of experience in the aviation charter industry, both in the UK and overseas, having held a number of senior roles at NetJets over a period of 13 years. Most recently, he was Company Director, Head of European Sales, leading the planning and execution of the sales strategy.

 Craig Pattison

 Chief People & Change Officer

 Craig spent 10 years of his career in general management and customer service with Tesco before deciding to concentrate the next stage of his career in human resources both with the retailer and later in senior HR positions with BP, Lloyd's of London and most recently Wood Mackenzie, where he was Global Executive Vice President HR and led the HR function. In July 2018, Craig joined Air Partner Group as Interim Group HR Director before being appointed permanently to the role in November 2018. Craig is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development.

Judith Banks

General Counsel and Company Secretary

Judith joined Air Partner in October 2018. Prior to that she held a number of senior legal counsel positions, including at Elekta, a Nasdaq listed medical devices company, at the industrial group Atlas Copco, and at ATR, the regional aircraft manufacturer. She is dual qualified in France and England and has lived and worked in both countries.

 David McCown

 President Air Parter Americas

 David has over 20 years' experience in the private aviation industry serving in various capacities including founder of AirCharter.com (the first online reservation system for private jets; acquired in 1998), board member of holding company for Wyvern Aviation safety and chairman of the Air Charter Association of North America. Prior to aviation, David spent several years in the banking industry with Bank of America.

 Paul Mason

 Managing Director – Safety & Security

 Paul was at the helm of Redline from inception in 2006 to acquisition by Air Partner in 2019, guiding Redline from a concept through to the internationally acclaimed security training, consultant, and quality assurance company that it has become. With over 25 years of aviation experience, Paul is now leading the safety and security division of Air Partner with an unmatched range of products and services spanning all aspects of safety and security training, consultancy, quality assurance and innovative software products to cater for the needs of tomorrows threats and risks as well as big data handling, live data analytics and real time threat and risk management.