The award-winning, global cargo division of our charter brokerage, Air Charter Service, is experienced in chartering a broad range of cargo aircraft – from small jets for urgent packages to large freighters for heavy loads – and also provides a professional onboard courier service to quickly and securely deliver sensitive or time-critical shipments. We regularly arrange cargo charters for a broad range of industries, including oil and gas, pharmaceuticals, sports, engineering, construction, military and entertainment.

Each of our extensively trained account managers has spent time on the tarmac, gaining an intricate understanding of every stage of a cargo charter operation. In addition to this depth of knowledge, our size, infrastructure and superior buying power mean we can always source the most cost-effective and efficient solution for every job.

Air Charter Service received an urgent request from one of our key clients, on behalf of a company conducting exploration drilling in Tanzania. The request was to move two steam generator units and ancillary equipment from the UK to Mtwara, Tanzania.

The equipment’s weight was 52 tonnes, with a load length in excess of 25 metres, at 2.9 metres high. The IL76MF was recommended – a ‘stretched’ version of the IL76, the only aircraft which could accommodate the load, without using the larger and more expensive AN-124.

The load was oversized, included hazardous material, was fragile and required immediate customs clearance on arrival, followed by in-country delivery. Owing to the time-critical nature of the charter, it was decided that the load would travel to the drilling base’s closest airfield capable of accepting an aircraft of this size – Dar es Salaam, the Tanzanian capital.

To keep aircraft positioning costs to a minimum, the load was moved by truck from the UK to the European mainland, with a specialist Air Charter Service account manager present at aircraft-loading.

The load was successfully discharged at Dar es Salaam, departing for a two-day journey to the end client’s base in Mtwara. As a result of Air Charter Service’s quick response times and continued expertise in this sector, the cargo arrived in good order – with the total door-to-door transit, from the UK origin point to Mtwara, taking just five days.

In late 2012 Air Charter Service was called upon to retrieve a Sea King helicopter that was left stranded on top of a mountain in the Arctic Circle, after a heavy landing damaged the undercarriage, meaning that it was not safe for it to fly back to its base.

Justin Lancaster, Group Cargo Director, explains: “We received a call saying that the helicopter was on a training exercise and had experienced a rough landing. The nearest road was more than 4 miles away and the only way to retrieve it was to airlift it out. The Sea King weighs around 6.5 tonnes, so we quickly decided that the best solution was a larger helicopter. We sourced the nearest Mil 26, which happened to be in Arkhangelsk in Russia, and positioned it into the nearby base. Mil 26s are the world’s largest and most powerful series-produced helicopter and are capable of lifting more than 20 tonnes.”

At the base meticulous planning went into the rescue operation. The Sea King was on a plateau at the top of a mountain and a small crew went up to the helicopter, via snowmobiles, to check whether it was safe for the Mil 26 to land next to it, or whether it would have to hover above it whilst the Sea King was strapped down.

“As can be seen from the photos, it was a tricky load, but the careful planning that we put in really paid off and resulted in a very smooth operation that only lasted one hour in total”, commented Lancaster.

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