Russi Batliwala honoured with STAT Times Lifetime Achievement Award
He rose from humble beginnings to lead Chapman Freeborn’s global expansion, steering its charter operations across five continents and transforming the company into a diversified aviation group over nearly four decades.
Russi Batliwala (centre) receives the STAT Times Lifetime Achievement Award from Robert Schönberger, Global Industry Lead for transport logistic, air cargo & ceramitec exhibitions at Messe München, and R.K. Patra, Editor-in-Chief of The STAT Trade Times.
Global air cargo veteran Russi Batliwala has conferred with STAT Times' Lifetime Achievement Award today at the 11th edition of air cargo India for his contribution to the international air cargo fraternity. Batliwala worked for a number of commercial airlines before joining aircraft charter specialist Chapman Freeborn in 1987.
Accepting the award, he said, "Its a tremendous honour. So many famous people in the industry I looked up to all my life, now I'm in the same list as they are. What an honour!"
Born into an aviation family, his journey started with an unexpected twist of fate, a newspaper ad, and a leap of faith that placed him on the ramp at Frankfurt Airport. From those humble beginnings, he rose steadily, shaping the future of global charter aviation.
He took over the management of Chapman Freeborn Germany in 1990, followed by the group’s worldwide cargo product in 2000. During his 39 years with the company, he has been involved in setting up several key global charter operations, including subsidiary businesses in Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, and North America.
Since he was appointed CEO of the Chapman Freeborn Group in 2009, Batliwala has been instrumental in developing a vision and strategy for the company’s global expansion.
In addition to the group’s core aircraft chartering activities, Batliwala has overseen the strengthening of the company’s portfolio of subsidiary businesses, which include hand-carry specialist Chapman Freeborn OBC, animal transport company Intradco Global, and flight operations provider Wings 24.
The group was further enhanced in 2017 with the acquisition of a majority shareholding in Magma Aviation, a specialist air cargo company operationally managing B747-400F aircraft.
In 2019, Chapman Freeborn was acquired by Avia Solutions Group – a global aviation holding company with subsidiaries engaged in aircraft maintenance, pilot training, ground handling and fuelling, aviation IT solutions and business aviation.
In January 2026, Batliwala was appointed as Advisor to the Board of Chapman Freeborn.
