歷年消息

According to local myth, there is a pub in Shropshire where Eric Clapton used to stroll in occasionally and ask if the band would let him join them for a few numbers. That was in the late 1970s; today, any performance by the legendary artist requires meticulous management over an extended period. To illustrate the scale of a Clapton event, his recent packed-stadium tour of the Far East involved the movement of around 25 tons of band and stage equipment between venues.

Eric had not played in Singapore since 1990 — and it was only his second Bangkok performance in 30 years — and audience expectations were high, so every aspect of the tour had to be perfectly handled. Ian Haynes, director of Rock It cargo, turned to Air Charter Service to guarantee that all of his equipment would always be in the right place at the right time. The tour entailed five performances, in five countries, within a nine-day period in January.

Justin Bowman, Air Charter Service’s worldwide commercial director, arranged an Airbus A-300 to carry the vital cargo across thousands of miles: from Bangkok to Singapore, then to Hong Kong, onwards to Shanghai and finally to Seoul. As with any such itinerary, details had to be changed along the way, but ACS always rose to the occasion.

Floods affecting nearly 25,000 families hit parts of Bolivia last month causing the country’s President Evo Morales to declare a state of emergency after weeks of heavy rain; this has been caused by the climatic phenomenon known as La Niña, and has devastated several parts of the country.

Air Charter Service (ACS) one of the leading operators in cargo and passenger air chartering, received an urgent call from a Spanish based relief agency to carry 10 tonnes of much needed water purification equipment, medical kits, tents, blankets and mosquito nets from Madrid Torrijon Airport on the 12th February 2008, just three days after the agency approached ACS.

The 70cbm cargo was expertly loaded into the AN-12 with only a 90cbm volume, resulting in the on site load master remarking how ‘our skills at Tetris have come in very handy today’.

Richard Thompson, Cargo Charter Analyst, ACS said:
“This is the fourth charter that we have successfully operated for this client and ACS’ dedicated broker relationships and the added bonus of the team being fluent in Spanish certainly helps put our customers’ minds at rest. Speaking the language also helped me to secure landing rights and permits with the minimum of delay.”

ACS works to assist governments, charities and aid agencies when ‘every minute counts’ in saving lives. Being very aware of the urgency required in these situations, as a minimum requirement many of the charter brokers at ACS are bi- or tri-lingual. They have supported relief efforts into countries including Algeria, Indonesia, Afghanistan, and Sudan and operated a variety of nearly 500 flights in the aftermath of the catastrophic tsunami which struck Thailand on December 26th 2004.

Contact Richard Thompson, Cargo Charter Analyst and team at london@aircharter.co.uk

Sometimes the strength of an organisation lies in its commitment to detail and its quality of foresight. This proved truer than usual when Air Charter Service were asked to carry two 31 tonne, four metre high transformers nearly 3,000 miles from the UK to Iran.

Securing a massive Antonov-124 Ruslan, ACS had to plan carefully to ensure that the load could be properly fitted and supported.

Ben Dinsdale, London based Cargo Charter Analyst, describes how, realising that the weight of the transformers was such that they would be too heavy to be supported during the flight on the original bases, “We organised a visit to the factory the week before the flight in order to advise how to spread the weight efficiently by altering the base for optimum loading onto the AN-124.”

Contact Ben Dinsdale, London based Cargo Charter Analyst and team london@aircharter.co.uk

Air Charter Service (ACS) one of the leading names in cargo and passenger air chartering, arranged for an Antonov-12 to carry seven tonnes of urgently needed relief cargo from Spain to Mexico and South America in the aftermath of Hurricane Noel which left widespread flooding and mudslides.

Richard Thompson, Cargo Charter Analyst at ACS confirmed the flight on the evening of Friday 2nd November for a 4th November departure. The flight was for the Spanish Government so using his fluent Spanish, Richard was able to negotiate the permits for each country, not an inconsiderable task due to the long duration of the flight and the two drop stops in Haiti and the Dominican Republic.

The AN-12 carried seven tonnes of medical kits, two water purifying plants, blankets and jerry cans to the effected regions.

Richard Thompson, Cargo Charter Analyst, ACS said:
“The challenge with this flight was the route – the 26 hour flight stopped in two different countries on the way and with only 24 hours notice we had to work hard to finalise everything.”

ACS is called in to assist governments, charities and aid agencies when ‘every minute counts’ in saving lives. Being very aware of the urgency required in these situations, as a minimum requirement many of the charter brokers at ACS are bi- or tri-lingual. They have supported relief efforts into countries including Algeria, Indonesia, Afghanistan, and Sudan and operated a variety of nearly 500 flights in the aftermath of the catastrophic tsunami which struck Thailand on December 26th 2004.

Contact Richard Thompson, Cargo Charter Analyst and team at london@aircharter.co.uk

Enormous ocean freighters are generally the preferred mode of transport when carrying 200 tonnes of oil drilling equipment from the UK out to the Middle East. However, when the production of 15 massive ‘Christmas tree’, component parts of oil drilling equipment required by an Egyptian oil development was delayed back in November the shippers involved turned to Air Charter Service (ACS) who chartered two mighty AN-124 aircraft.

ACS’ key qualities as an international organization with a high level of professionalism on the ground were vital. The difficulties the Houston-based shipper had in arranging transport from the UK to Egypt were overcome by the smooth and easy interactions of ACS’ New York and East Midlands offices.

However it was the skills of ACS employees on site which proved critical. Ruan Courtney, President and Charter Sales Manager ACS New York, emphasised the importance of the “experience of Ralph Cutting our EMA based Operations Manager, in ensuring that any problems the shipper experienced prior to loading – such as the cargo not being able to fit through the airport gates! - were dealt with efficiently and well in advance of the flight.”

Yet another example of ACS’ ability to offer quick and effective logistics solutions to their customers.

Contact: Ruan Courtney, President and Charter Sales Manager ACS New York and team cargo@aircharterserviceusa.com

Air Charter Service (ACS) has been a specialist in outsize cargo transport for the past 15 years. Recently they were able to demonstrate just how accomplished they are in this area of expertise when they assisted one of their clients, a major freight forwarder in Norway, to transport outsized cargo across the world.

ACS were contacted when a leading Norwegian oil company urgently needed to transport some vital oil well equipment from Osaka, Japan to Oslo, Norway. The cargo included 124 oil pipes, all 12 metres long, 30 centimetres in diameter and weighing 110 tonnes in total.

Experienced cargo broker Andy Holmes located an Antonov 124 to transport the cargo in no time. Experience is often the key when dealing with air cargo, and in this case it proved vital as Andy was able to obtain Japanese traffic rights within ten days, thereby meeting the client’s deadline for delivery.

ACS prides itself on quality service with great flexibility to suit the customers’ needs. Once again ACS was able to deliver a full service on an international route and leave another one of their valued clients satisfied.

Air Charter Service plc, the private air charter specialist is delighted to announce that it is to base an Antonov 26 cargo plane at Châteauroux-Déols "Marcel Dassault" Airport, situated 220 km south of Paris. This is the first time that an aircraft has been based at the facility.

Air Charter Service is London-based, with other permanent offices in New York, Dubai and Moscow. Globally recognised as a leading name in passenger and cargo air chartering, it operates around 2,700 flights annually. The company was established in 1990 and provides a complete turnkey service for anyone needing to charter an aircraft on a one-off basis, arranging all aspects of a charter from fully crewed aircraft to ground transfers. ACS monitors real-time movements of more than 50,000 aircraft worldwide and tracks data on airports, fuel prices, legislation and routings.

Justin Bowman, ACS commercial director, comments,

“Châteauroux is perfectly placed for the heartland of the French automotive industry, and basing the Antonov 26 there means that we can better serve the needs of our clients in the auto industry, co-ordinating “just-in-time” deliveries of parts.”

How do you get a Bombardier Learjet LR-60 from Romania to the USA? Yes, you fly it — but what do you do if it is incapable of flight? James Cristofoli, at the ACS London office, knows the answer: you put it inside another aircraft and fly it as cargo.

“It was a challenging project,” he says, “getting an executive jet that could not fly back to the manufacturer for major repairs, following an accident. The distances involved meant that surface transport was not an option for reasons of cost and time.”

The LR-60 was immobile at Baneasa, Bucharest City Airport, and needed to be returned to ICT, Wichita Falls, in Kansas — several thousand miles away. Having a $14 million aircraft out of service is expensive, which is why the customer turned to Air Charter Service. “We were the only company able to offer the customer the earliest possibility that they needed,” says James.

Arranging the necessary Antonov 124 was only part of the job, as three weeks’ detailed flight planning were needed, in alliance with a specialist salvage team. This included essential preparation work on the LR-60, such as creating a bespoke dolly for it, to reduce its height, and removing its rear horizontal stabiliser to reduce its width.

The flight ran smoothly from start to finish and the customer’s Learjet is now back in Kansas where it began life, undergoing $5 million worth of repairs.

When an earthquake hit Trinidad, Ruan Courtney knew that the telephone would soon be ringing in Air Charter Service’s New York office. Sure enough, the quake — measuring 6.1 on the Richter scale — had knocked out power across the island and caused structural damage to buildings. The country’s only liquid natural gas plant was one of the affected sites and specialist equipment, replacement technology and spare parts were needed to bring the plant back on-line.

During the next 12 days, four emergency cargo charters were arranged: a DC10 and a DC8 from Manchester, England, and two Falcon 20 aircraft from Houston, Texas all flew equipment into Port of Spain.

The speed of response helped in restoring production quickly to the plant — a key contributor to the economy of Trinidad, a major LNG supplier to the USA.

Being offered money is all in a day’s work for Ruan Courtney, of Air Charter Service’s New York office — he is used to taking calls about unusual cargo charters. The most recent request was from a Toronto-based customer, who wanted 86 tons of New Zealand two-cent and five-cent coins moved quickly.

Speed of response was essential, as production delays and impending deadlines meant that the cargo needed to be delivered more quickly than scheduled airlines could offer, although cost and service quality were also cited as major consideration.

Ruan responded rapidly with a quote that the customer liked and millions of coins were soon taking off from Winnipeg, bound for Auckland aboard a Boeing 747.