Fourteen years in air charter and private aviation gives you a kind of perspective that no trend report ever really can. You stop reacting to every new headline and start recognising familiar patterns. Markets tighten, then loosen. Candidate priorities shift. Client expectations evolve. Over time, you learn which pressures are temporary, which are structural, and when sound judgement matters more than speed or scale.

This Insight reflects on what staying power has genuinely taught us. Why relationships, built carefully and maintained properly, consistently outperform volume. Why reputation compounds quietly over time, often in ways you don’t immediately see. And why choosing to remain deliberately specialist has mattered more with every passing year, particularly in an industry where trust, discretion and judgement carry real weight.

Menska has grown through expansion years, downturns and periods of uncertainty, alongside moments of real opportunity. We’ve seen hiring surges, hiring freezes and everything in between. We’ve worked through changing candidate expectations around lifestyle, progression and purpose, and increasingly complex demands from operators navigating growth, regulation and operational pressure. Through it all, the focus has remained the same: stay close to the market, stay honest in the advice we give, and never lose sight of the long game.

What we’re most proud of isn’t just the roles filled, but the relationships that have endured. Clients who return year after year. Candidates who come back later in their careers, sometimes on the other side of the table. Conversations that start as recruitment discussions and develop into long-term partnerships built on trust, transparency and mutual respect.

Fourteen years on, the business reflects the values it was built on. Careful growth over quick wins. Substance over noise. Judgement over pressure. As the air charter and private aviation market continues to evolve, those principles feel more relevant than ever. Not as a strategy, but as a way of working that has stood the test of time — and one we’re proud to continue building on.