For the six months to January 31 the company returned a profit of £849,000, compared with £1.3 million for the same period in 1997.

The company indicated all was not well at the beginning of the year when it issued a profits warning.

But since then business has picked up, partly because of work generated by the war in Kosovo and also because of a general improvement in the world economy.

Company chairman Tony Mack said: "Trading conditions in the latter part of the first half of this year were difficult and the results reflect that.

"Business has improved significantly since then and we believe we are well positioned to benefit from this trend continuing. Our long term prospects remain encouraging."

During the period group sales increased by 15.6 per cent to £24.7 million.

The group's UK operations were expanded last year with the sales force increased to enable the company to take advantage of the growing demand that was anticipated.

While trading in the first quarter was in line with expectations and ahead of the same period in the previous year, the second quarter was disappointing with lower than expected sales putting pressure on margins.

Asurvey of other businesses in the same market showed Air Partner was not alone in experiencing low levels of activity, particularly in the corporate jet field.

Costs incurred by a change of name from Air London to Air Partner to reflect the company's global operations, were also met during this period.

The company's French subsidiary saw an 8.5 per cent improvement in sales and there were improvements in both the German and U.S. operations.

Air Partner has a staff of 50 in the UK plus 35 around the world.

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