Charter Business: customise & specialise

Demand for cargo charter services is on the rise and charter operators with deep domain expertise, global network and shortest turnaround time have the edge.

When it comes to moving your cargo to a remote location in Colombia or getting an oversized oil and gas exploration equipment to remote Saharan desert in southern Algeria, multinational corporation turn to charter operators around the world with deep domain expertise, global network, trained personnel and shortest turnaround time to fulfill their needs. These charter operators analyse route, payload and timescale in order to propose the most suitable aircraft for your requirements. We offer part-charters, backloads and other commercially innovative solutions for ad hoc, peak season and project cargo.
Volga-Dnepr Airlines recently completed its 1,100th flight for customers in the oil and gas industry with its latest delivery of 45 tonness of equipment from Rio de Janeiro in Brazil to Prestwick, Scotland. The cargo consisted of specialist equipment for a water-driven excavation system and auxiliary equipment and will be used for drilling operations and seabed engineering. The IL-76TD-90VD freighter flight was ordered by Chapman Freeborn Airchartering Fretamento e Logística do Brasil.
“The delivery of oil and gas equipment across the globe is one of the key areas of Volga-Dnepr Airlines’ expertise. This milestone flight was the 1,100th oil and gas transportation service by Volga-Dnepr. To date, our fleet of An-124-100 and IL-76TD-90VD cargo aircraft has safely delivered some 74,000 tons of equipment for oil and gas industry customers,” said Alexander Kartashov, Sales Executive of Volga-Dnepr Airlines. At the last count, Volga-Dnepr Airlines had delivered more than 130,000 tonnes of oil and gas equipment to destinations worldwide. That number is increasing.
It was also involved in moving a 15-metre, 24-ton ‘Cigarette Marauder’ power boat from Doha to Nice on board one of its IL-76 freighter flights. The boat needed a special loading solution because of its length, weight and low ground clearance. The flight was operated on behalf of Volga-Dnepr’s longstanding charter partner Air Partner.
In 2006 Antonov Airlines and Volga-Dnepr Airlines came together to form ‘Ruslan International’ - the heavy air cargo charter specialists. They now offer a combined fleet of 17 Antonov An124-100 aircraft and twice the expertise in technical, commercial and operational solutions, Ruslan International is capable of rising to any outsize or heavy air cargo challenge. The combined strength provides them tremendous opportunity to service any clients with whatever their outsize or heavy air cargo charter requirements.
Recently a Volga-Dnepr Airlines’ An-124-100 ‘Ruslan’ freighter delivered a 45-ton mobile hospital for members of the Saudi royal family from Ankara in Turkey to Tangier, Morocco. The flight was organised on behalf of the Turkish office of Air Partner, the international charter company, and operated by Volga-Dnepr Airlines under the Ruslan International An-124 joint venture.
“Volga-Dnepr is often called upon to operate flights carrying cargoes such as automobiles, motor boats and high-tech equipment for leaders and members of governments and in each case we have justified our customers’ confidence by ensuring their shipments arrived at their destination at the required time,” said Gerasimov.
Cargo charter operators have been called into provide a range of services including the transportation of live animals. For flying animal around the word for various shows, these “passengers” too have very special needs, whether they are llamas from Chile going to New Zealand, an endangered species routed from Africa to the USA, or a winner of the Prix de L’arc de Triomphe being flown from Paris to Saudi Arabia. For instance Intradco, a leading livestock, exotics and horse transportation and air charter specialist recently orchestrated an operation to fly 37 horses from Brussels to Singapore Changi Airport. The horses were showcased as part of the world-famous Cavalia equestrian performance in Singapore.
“The operation marks another smooth movement for the Cavalia team. Whilst it was a smaller operation than flights we have managed for the team previously, Intradco, along with Singapore Airlines Cargo, provided a solution that was cost efficient and fully customised to the needs of the Cavalia tour,” said Charlie McMullen, business development manager, Intradco.
Chapman Freeborn and its logistics partners SPI Freight and Logik Logistics International have successfully arranged the transportation of the first ever unmanned surface vehicle (USV) that is set to revolutionize oil and gas operations. The 20-foot vessel, designed to conduct autonomous subsea positioning, surveying and environmental monitoring - was flown on a chartered British Airways Boeing 747-8 freighter aircraft, coordinated by Chapman Freeborn. “This was an enjoyable and challenging project that truly showed the effectiveness of Chapman Freeborn’s global network. Along with our US team and logistics partners, we were able to deliver this product to its final destination in a quick and well-organized manner. It was great to work on a project that utilized our core areas of expertise and allowed us to provide a truly professional charter delivery service to our customer,” said Rudi Jones, project manager and cargo charter specialist at Chapman Freeborn’s London Gatwick office.
These charter companies also offer exclusive and premium passenger charter services to business conglomerates and billionaires. Chapman Freeborn, known for operating a worldwide network of charters both for passengers and cargo has got into collaboration with La Nava, a world-renowned partridge shooting estate in the Castilla-La Mancha region in Spain. Covering some 60,000 acres, La Nava offers world class shooting alongside a purpose built lodge benefitting from beautifully appointed, luxury accommodation. “This is a hugely exciting, niche collaboration that will see guests cut out the unnecessary airport queues and tedious transfers, arriving at the estate quicker than ever, and in true style,” said Alex Berry, group sales and marketing director, Chapman Freeborn, in a statement. Chapman credits itself with over 40 years of air charter expertise and a global network the charter specialist is able to provide fully bespoke charter solutions, with access to wide range of aircraft to match a variety of requirements. 