The coronavirus pandemic has permanently altered the landscape for essential business and trade around the globe. Entire industries, especially aviation, were forced to adjust their typical modes for operating while adapting quickly to keep supply chains moving during a global crisis. The need to transport essential cargo meant that air charter has quickly become the clear choice for governments, corporations and global businesses that require solutions for cargo transport, especially when there are challenging situations, providing complex project management expertise and the ability to access even the most hard-to-reach, remote destinations with exceptional speed.
Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, our dedicated Freight division at Air Partner has played a crucial role in transporting PPE, medicines and vaccine supplies, COVID-19 test kits, and other essential items swiftly and efficiently. We understand that being able to respond quickly, at the minute level, makes the difference for essential cargo transport, especially during a time when airline cargo capacity may be diminished and/or timelines may be tight.
While the airline industry is still in recovery, air charter offers an advantageous opportunity for leading industries, and we can provide unique capabilities and full-charter or part-charter services as a powerful, ongoing solution to the transport of cargo.
Here are a few important ways our global air charter services provide additional assurances for your upcoming cargo transport:
Reliability
As a charter broker, we are constantly vetting the airlines for their financial and operational reliability. As a result, brokers mitigate risks on behalf of their clients by checking the airport stability, coordinating with handling companies, checking weather forecasts, processing all permit applications, and having a back-up plan to counter any unavoidable issues.
In addition, at Air Partner, all clients work with a dedicated team of air charter specialists who are available 24/7 to coordinate every aspect of their cargo’s transportation – from aircraft booking to on-site logistics. Clients can trust they will always be provided with the most efficient options, ensuring steadfast support in time-critical freight operations and consistency in supply chains.
Scalability
Whether it be a well-known flag carrier or a private aircraft operator, a charter broker has access to more aircraft options suited for different cargo types and sizes, including oversized, heavy lift, and break bulk cargo. This includes specialisations across industries such as high-value cargo (VAL + VUN), dangerous goods, animal transport, oil & gas, automotive and more. A major benefit of working with our air charter experts is their ability to tailor flights and flight programmes based on your specific needs while seeing projects through from start to finish.
At the onset of the pandemic, when the airline industry ground to a halt, Air Partner’s Freight team was quickly able to answer a surge in demand for capacity and expand charter operations from 1 to 2 flights a week to 75 flights over a 10 week period to Wuhan, China the then-epicentre of COVID-19. Regardless of the complexity, we can scale our comprehensive and time-critical solutions, including on-site logistic and door-to-door delivery, to accommodate a wide range of cargo requirements anywhere in the world.
Manageability
Air charter has proven to be a successful method of transport for the most complex urgent deliveries throughout the pandemic, as well as for the long-term. This includes meeting the specific transport needs for sensitive and time-critical items such as COVID-related supplies, materials and equipment.
Air Partner has carried out hundreds of cargo flights in the fight against COVID-19, including delivering to and from hard-to-reach and remote locations. Having brought 10 tonnes of PPE from the UK into Puerto Rico on a chartered A330, our Freight team then coordinated the distribution of the products to various islands in the Caribbean on a combination of small aircraft.
As experts in meticulous logistics planning for a part, full or series air charter scheduling, we ensure the proper management for all special handling requirements, timely regulatory approvals, diplomatic clearance channels for international routes, permits, airport transfers and ground transportation logistics, to ensure complete precision and a smooth operation for timely and efficient transport.
Viability
Especially in times of crisis or urgent situations (even beyond COVID-19), many turn to charter as the only viable option for cargo transportation. Compared to other modes of transportation, air charter stands out as the best end-to-end solution that gives clients more control of their cargo shipment.
In the event that there is a vastly diminished airline cargo capacity, as was evident during the pandemic due to the loss of belly cargo operations on passenger aircraft, a full charter may be the only option that allows the scale to meet the demand. And as the world continues to find new ways to adjust, we are helping our customers reach their goals more readily, while making them fully aware of their most ideal options for global air cargo transport, whether for a single charter request or a more long-term cargo project.
For 60 years our team at Air Partner has been committed to helping our clients in a wide range of industries, keeping their businesses moving when it matters most. Learn more about Freight aircraft charter services, or contact us for a quote.
