American Airlines cargo flies French orchestra to Latin America

December 11, 2017: It was a rare moment in the history of American Airlines Cargo which successfully transported 694 pieces of cargo comprising an assortment of musical instruments of a leading French orchestra—Orchestre Nationale du Capitole to and from of a three-city tour of Latin America.

The Toulouse-based orchestra is one of France's leading classical ensembles which has a global recognition.

About 694 pieces of cargo, which included violins, cellos, double basses, three harps and a conductor's podium were shipped from Paris to Buenos Aires, Argentina, on a wide-bodied American Airlines flight, and subsequently to Quito, Ecuador and Sao Paulo.

American Airlines Cargo worked in partnership with the French forwarder—Excess Events who managed the orchestra's overseas concert trips for more than a decade. The airline was assigned the contract to moving not only instruments, but performance clothing for the 120-strong ensemble that all needed to be completed as one movement. It was to ensure all items arrived together for each concert. The concerts took place at the French embassies in all three Latin American locations.
Given the sensitive nature of the instruments, it required extreme care. At the start of their journey, musical instruments were transported by temperature-controlled truck from Toulouse to Paris-CDG during the first leg of the tour.
“We were extremely delighted with the way everything went like clockwork for this prestigious shipment,” said Philippe Ledain, of Excess Events.

“Musicians hate to be parted from their instruments for any length of time. Hence. it was essential that they were moved to the Latin America tour in the quickest possible time. Instruments are their passion, and working with American, we were able to achieve this movement for them.”

“The orchestra has an outstanding reputation, so we were pleased to have been chosen as the carrier to deliver their precious instruments to the venues across Latin America,” said Kathleen Lesage, regional manager of American Airlines Cargo.

“By working in partnership with the team at Excess Events, we were able to ensure everything ran exactly to plan,” he said.