(April 2025)

And so goes the motto of Simon Wagstaff, founder of The ASA Group (ASA), a 26-year-old Hong Kong-headquartered enterprise with a worldwide reputation for delivering high stakes security, aviation, and travel services to corporate, private, and government clients across the globe.

Simon and his team include some of FPI’s longest-standing industry relationships, dating back to ASA’s foundation in 1999 during a time when FPI’s existing team operated Air Routing International (ARI) and Air Security International (ASI). Simon has remained a close partner with today’s FPI team, and his current Managing Director (Julie Ambrose) and VP of Business Development (Matt Burdette) hailed as former employees from ARI and ASI, respectively.

“Partnerships, relationships, and trust are what FPI calls upon when we send our clients around the world, and this is why we’re honored to highlight ASA this month,” states Matt Pahl, FPI’s COO. “They’re our trusted, SSN team for client movement and protection in that corner of the world and beyond.”

(Simon Wagstaff, Julie Ambrose, and Matt Burdette)

Originally from London, Simon initially founded ASA in Manilla as an elite executive protection firm after his 20-year background in the British Army’s Commando Forces as a Sr. Bomb Disposal Officer in the region.

ASA rapidly expanded to become a highly respected international security consultancy and operator for a wide variety of sensitive services such as:

• Valuable/vulnerable aviation and maritime cargo security services
• Aviation coordination and supervision (slots, landing, permits, parking, travel, FBO and ground handling)
• Passenger/crew transportation, accommodations, and protections
• Crisis management and response (extractions and medevac)
• Surveillance counter measures and due diligence
• Aircraft and luxury yacht charter negotiation and liaison

Today, ASA includes six offices in the Asia/Oceania region (Hong Kong, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, and Philippines), offices in London, UK, and Houston, TX, and a vast network of global partners at the ready to deploy unique protection and operations services anywhere around the world.

“We’ve grown as our client’s requests have grown, and we now offer a broad range of services to the globe’s most discerning clientele,” states Simon. “We’ve acquired the reputation of being ‘the ones to call.’ For example, we recently helped with extractions out of Brazil and South Africa, and as would be expected, we also recently performed extractions out of Myanmar after the devastating earthquake. Thankfully, our team and clients were secured safely.”

High-profile security is not the only talent Simon brings to the business. As our readers are keenly aware, aviation professionals wear many hats at once in order to complete the job successfully, and are usually asked to do so on the fly.

Simon recalls an instance when he unexpectedly had to switch from his ground handling hat to air traffic control in order to help communicate with a pilot struggling with landing in a dense fog situation.

“I’d advised the pilot against arrival at that time of day due to typical fog in that location, but he went for it anyway,” recalls Simon. “He wanted to talk to me during his landing attempts, so at the beckoning of the actual ATC crew, I ran up the stairs as fast as possible to get on the phone and help get this guy on the ground. We had a good laugh about it later over a beer.”

Simon’s versatility and special teams background is reason enough that ASA can be trusted with high-profile client/cargo operations. However, adding to that layer of trust is the close relationship that his executives, Julie Ambrose and Matt Burdette, have also had with the FPI team over the years.

Julie, raised by an Air Force father and air shows all her life, initially began her aviation career within the fast-paced management of an FBO, and then later as both a corporate and commercial flight attendant, along with aircraft sales support, and eventually the West Coast Representative or Air Routing International (ARI). Her pathway of aviation roles perfectly prepared her for the 24/7 extreme attention to detail required for private aviation operations within her role at The ASA Group.

“Our goal is to make the entire experience effortless and stress-free for both the crew and passengers,” Julie states. “We work behind the scenes — well before the aircraft arrives or departs — to coordinate all services and ensure that everything is in place and ready. From ground handling and permits to passenger services and catering, our presence on-site means issues are resolved before they become problems, and every detail is taken care of so the flight can operate smoothly and without distraction.”

Matt (Burdette), originally a U.S. History major with sites set on U.S. Government work, decided to work for Air Security International (ASI) in the late ‘90s and quickly realized that the nuances of high-profile security management were his strong suit. He switched gears to aviation, and his prior career ambitions “were history” (pun intended).

Today, Matt blends his skills across the critical responsibilities of cultivating North American relationships for ASA as well as security operations oversight for the ASA team based in Bangkok.

“True situational awareness with each of our projects is multi-faceted and complex due to the global scale, time sensitivity, and discretion of our clients’ movements,” states Matt (Burdette). “Even if the trip appears to be standard at a glance, we take the nuances of each job very seriously in order to decrease the risk profile of all passengers and crew involved.”

Both Matt (Burdette) and Julie are frequent speakers in the aviation conference circuit (such as recently with NBAA’s IOC and Schedulers and Dispatchers in Q1 2025), and Simon frequently  travels out of his way to stay connected to his most meaningful colleagues.

“We’ve made special trips to visit Tom (Balousek, FPI’s founder and co-founder of ARI and ASI), and have coordinated personal travel just to catch up with Matt Pahl over old aviation stories,” states Simon. “With FPI, it’s not cliche to say that they are family.”

Matt Pahl concurs, “Simon is the kind of guy who will move heaven and earth to connect as a friend, and his team moves heaven and earth to support our clientele. They’re phenomenal people, extremely ethical, and The ASA Group is a great business partner.”

“At the very least, the FPI team wanted to relay the utmost peace of mind for our clients as we coordinate their trips with ASA when they fly to the Asia/Oceania region,” Matt Pahl continues. “However, should any unusually complex or sensitive security operations be under consideration for any of our clientele, we’re proud to bring The ASA Group to the table.”

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To learn more about FPI, FPC, or regarding the Compliance, Operations, Regulatory, and other Special Services Network (SSN) teams, please contact our Operations staff here at Flight Pro International.

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