With global supply chains struggling to keep up with demand during another tumultuous pandemic-hit year, Air Charter Service stepped up to fill the void by organising thousands of cargo charters in 2021.
ACS's Cargo Charters of 2021
With global supply chains struggling to keep up with demand during another tumultuous pandemic-hit year, Air Charter Service stepped up to fill the void by organising thousands of cargo charters in 2021.
From transporting vital Covid-19 medical supplies to relocating 30 white rhinos across Africa, it was a diverse and record-breaking year for our cargo division, who completed an incredible 1,445 charters from August to October alone!
To celebrate a remarkable year in cargo and demonstrate what we can achieve for our customers, we’ve put together a selection of our top cargo charters for 2021. We look forward to arranging thousands more cargo charters in 2022!
Chartering the world’s largest aircraft
The Antonov AN-225 Mriya is the largest aircraft in the world – and the only one to feature six turbofan engines.
In November, senior cargo broker Alex Muffett arranged and oversaw the charter of this iconic aircraft for a series of flights to Shannon, Ireland. Some of his colleagues from our London office also travelled to help facilitate the charter, along with our videographer who produced this video to mark the occasion.
View our Antonov AN-225 showcase video below.
Transporting 30 rhinos across Africa
Aircraft cargo isn’t always inanimate goods. In late 2021, we chartered a Boeing B747-400 to transport 30 white rhinoceroses from South Africa to their new home in Rwanda in the largest single rhino translocation ever undertaken.
The rhinos travelled a total of 3,400km from the Phinda Private Game Reserve to Akagera National Park during this landmark charter, which went ahead after 18 months of meticulous planning to ensure the animals’ comfort and safety. Our hard work paid off and the rhinos completed their journey without a hitch.
Arranging UK aid flights to Haiti
After a 7.2 magnitude earthquake struck the small Caribbean island of Haiti in August 2021, the UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office asked us to arrange the urgent charter of 20 tonnes of humanitarian aid including shelter kits and solar powered lanterns for up to 1,300 families to those affected.
The cargo was transported smoothly and our US offices also arranged several additional relief charters that month in support of the operation.
Unloading Covid-19 test kits by hand
Air Charter Service has arranged hundreds of flights transporting Covid-19 test kits to the UK since the pandemic began – but in December, two charters suddenly looked in doubt when staff shortages at Birmingham Airport meant there weren’t enough ground workers to transfer the tests from the aircraft.
With fears of dwindling test supplies as the Omicron variant began to take hold, we called on staff from our Surrey headquarters to help unload over two million tests by hand.
Volunteers from our marketing, accounting, bids and contracts, customer experience, legal, IT and HR departments joined the effort, getting up early and travelling to Birmingham to help keep this essential cargo coming into the country.
Watch how the day unfolded below:
Delivering organs for urgent transplants
We’ve transported all sorts of life-saving medicine and equipment at short notice over the years, but when a hospital in Melbourne asked us to help fly five human kidneys to various destinations in Australia as part of an organ exchange programme in September, we had to work faster than ever to deliver the time-sensitive shipment.
Our team has vast experience in arranging medical charters and managed to source an Aero Commander that could transport the ice boxes containing the organs quickly and cost-effectively to hospitals in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane. We worked around the clock to coordinate this complex charter and ensure the operations went ahead on time.
Flying designer dresses to a catwalk show
While 2021 wasn’t all about life-saving cargo, we were a real life-saver for a renowned Paris fashion house who urgently needed their latest clothes range transported to a catwalk show in Greece in October.
The fragile garments were travelling upright in pallets that were too tall to be loaded onto a scheduled flight, so we needed to charter an aircraft that could hold the pallets without damaging the cargo.
Despite limited aircraft availability due to the pandemic, we sprung into action to deliver a solution within 24 hours and sourced a Boeing B737-400F that could deliver the clothes on time.
Delivering PPE from China to India
Having 27 offices across 19 countries allows us to quickly source and charter aircraft all over the world. When our London office received a late-night request from a freight forwarder to transport vital PPE and mask-making equipment from China to India, we drafted in our team in China to help coordinate the charter as fast as possible.
This unique ability to be able to work around the clock allowed us to swiftly book a suitable aircraft, confirm insurance and secure the necessary permissions and landing rights for the flight to go ahead.
Flying TV equipment from France to French Polynesia
Some cargo charters are fairly straightforward, while others require outside-the-box thinking. When a French production company asked us to help fly equipment from Paris to French Polynesia in March, there were several logistical obstacles to overcome.
The urgent request came in on a Friday afternoon and the client’s senior management team was less contactable over the weekend, causing delays in approving the charter before the first available aircraft was booked by someone else. Undeterred, our dedicated team used their initiative to quickly source an alternative.
The cargo weighed less than 15 tonnes and could easily be separated and stacked into a passenger aircraft, so we booked a long-range Boeing B777-300 that could complete the journey with only one stop and used a local operator to avoid delays securing the necessary permits and traffic rights.
Leasing a cargo aircraft to move a million kilos a month
Air Charter Service doesn’t just arrange standalone charters – we can also lease aircraft for multiple flights over an extended period of time. In February, we were asked to facilitate a lease to cover a Florida cargo airline whilst maintenance work was carried out on its fleet of Boeing B767Fs.
Our leasing team is always fully updated on worldwide aircraft availability and quickly sourced an Airbus A321F that was perfect for the job. The client was so happy with the success of the operation that they’ve now contracted a second A321F to expand their capacity even further!
Flying Covid-19 medical supplies to Portugal
Throughout the pandemic, we’ve arranged charters to transport countless amounts of medical equipment, PPE, test kits and facemasks. One such charter took place in May, when a medical distribution company asked us to move 40 tonnes of vital life-saving equipment from China to hospitals, outpatient clinics and care homes in Portugal.
Freighters are regularly booked weeks in advance during the current climate, so last-minute availability was limited. Despite this, our experienced team rose to the challenge and managed to source an Airbus A330-200F that could transport the cargo at short notice without exceeding the client’s budget. We then applied through diplomatic channels to secure the necessary permits to fly from China.