George Galanopoulos is a Greek-British commercial pilot and businessperson. He is best known as the co-founder of

London Executive Aviation London Executive Aviation is an air charter airline based at Stapleford Aerodrome near Romford, United Kingdom. It was co-founded in 1996 by George Galanopoulos and Patrick Margetson-Rushmore. It operates ad-hoc private jet charters and offers ...

where he served as the managing director and then the CEO after being rebranded to Luxaviation UK. He is a Board Member of The British Business and General Aviation Association (BBGA).

Early life

Galanopoulous moved to Britain at age 20, to study computer science.

Career

Galanopoulos began his career in 1985 as a commercial pilot. In 1996, Galanopoulos and Patrick Margetson-Rushmore co-founded

, an

air charter Air charter is the business of renting an entire aircraft (i.e., chartering) as opposed to individual aircraft seats (i.e., purchasing a ticket through a traditional airline). Regulation Charter – also called air taxi or ad hoc – flight ...

airline An airline is a company that provides civil aviation, air transport services for traveling passengers or freight (cargo). Airlines use aircraft to supply these services and may form partnerships or Airline alliance, alliances with other airlines ...

Headquartered at

Stapleford Aerodrome Stapleford Aerodrome is an operational general aviation aerodrome in the Epping Forest district of Essex, England, near the village of Abridge. It is about south of North Weald Airfield and north of Romford. The airfield is just within the ...

near

Romford Romford is a large List of places in London, town in east London, east London, England, located northeast of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Havering, the town is one of the major Metropolitan centres of London, metropolitan centr ...

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

. London Executive Aviation then operated a diverse fleet including,

Beechcraft King Air The Beechcraft King Air is a line of American utility aircraft produced by Beechcraft. The King Air line comprises a number of twin-turboprop models that have been divided into two families. The Model 90 and 100 series developed in the 1960s ...

200 turboprop and the ultra-long-range

Bombardier Global 6000 The Bombardier Global Express is a large cabin, long-range business jet designed and manufactured by Bombardier Aviation. Announced in October 1991, it first flew in October 1996, received its Canadian type certification in July 1998 and ente ...

. In May 2014, Luxembourg-based, Luxaviation Group acquired a 70% stake in London Executive Aviation which rebranded to Luxaviation UK as a part of the deal, while the founders retained a 30% share in the company. Galanopoulos continued in his position as the managing director of Luxaviation UK. In May 2020, Rushmore retired from his CEO position due to health issues and Galanopoulos became the CEO of Luxaviation UK. After joining Luxaviation Group, Galanopoulos was appointed as the European head of charter for the group.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Galanopoulos, George Year of birth missing (living people) 1996 in aviation 20th-century British businesspeople 21st-century British businesspeople 20th-century Greek businesspeople 21st-century Greek businesspeople English aviators Greek aviators Greek emigrants to the United Kingdom Naturalised citizens of the United Kingdom Living people