An aircraft charter to Svalbard in the arctic circle in 4 days.

Cargo Overseas Limited handle numerous aircraft and ship charters throughout the year. What stood this one out from the rest? Well all aircraft charters pose their own set of problems and are all different but can we get cargo from the UK to the Arctic Circle in 4 days.

Thursday we had the call, Sunday 16:06hrs we finished unloading the cargo in Longyearbyen, Svalbard. With contacts in several airlines and specialist brokerage divisions we have always excelled at obtaining aircraft at short notice but even we had an initial concern that 4 days was going to be tight.

After the phone call at lunch time on Thursday by late Thursday afternoon we had a choice of 2 aircraft, an AN12 as shown on the left or an ATR42 which could be obtained at short notice and could be moved into position at East Midlands Airport for loading.

With the shorter flying time for the AN12 we opted to use this aircraft and save on a Tech stop in transit. At this point our customer advised collection points, yes points. Instead of one collection as worked out we had 2 collections, one on the Eastern side of the country and one on the Western side. The Western collection needed to be done as late as possible to provide the customer with as much time as possible to get as much product ready as they could.

Friday afternoon goods collected and positioned at the airport, landing and take-off rights negotiated and permits obtained. Aviation Security negotiated and pre-alerts and copy paperwork with the customer both in the UK and up in Svalbard. Just waiting for the aircraft to arrive.

Saturday, disaster strikes at 05:45am where we were advised that the aircraft had gone technical as it was being prepared for take-off towards East Midlands airport. A crack had been discovered in the windscreen and the aircraft needed repairs. An anxious few hours whilst a replacement screen is located and the aircraft repaired. An arrival time into East Midlands of 11am Saturday is now looking like 11am Sunday at the earliest. Cargo Overseas staff spend Saturday in the office talking to suppliers and customers keeping everybody informed of the progress whilst the replacement windscreen is located and looking at our other options. The ATR42 is now outside Europe but a B757 which was initially looked at starts to figure in our thoughts.

Aircraft repaired Saturday afternoon and with a lot of chasing the aircraft departs for East Midlands airport and arrives at 0117am. Relief but still an anxious wait whilst the aircraft is re-fuled and loaded. Loading is completed by 09:43 and departs by 10:16. Relief for us and all the suppliers as well as our customers as we achieve a remarkable aircraft charter preperation and loading within 71 hours including a 12 hour delay for aircraft repairs and a full charter including arrival and unloading within 78 hours.