question of the month


The global air cargo charter market is going through a buoyant period at the moment, so what is driving the need for that extra, quick response capacity?


TONY BAUCKHAM managing director, Air Charter Service


“We haven’t seen any drop in volumes after a very positive 2010, it’s been very encouraging. We have been particularly active in the area of humanitarian missions, with many cargo charters being organised to fly in aid and relief equipment to those people hit by the natural disasters in New Zealand and Japan earlier this year. The oil and gas sector has


held up well, with other flights being arranged to carry equipment for the energy sector to areas such as the Middle East – despite, or perhaps in part because of, the political unrest seen in the region during the early months of 2011. The movement of livestock, be it pigs, sheep or horses,


The oil and gas sector has held up well


ANDREAS WALD manager, ProAir Charter


“The challenge in 2011 will be to repeat the growth in turnover of 2010, while managing to handle increased business and still find capacity to push sales activities. Many challenges exist, of


course. One such obstacle is security and the surrounding regulatory environment. Due to incidents in the recent past threatening civil aviation, safety is more than ever in focus. This surely is in the


has also been a source of business, as has the requirement to ship pharmaceuticals, marine equipment and aerospace parts when airline scheduled services have not been sufficient to meet the needs of shippers. Our Birmingham-based managed fleet of an AN-26 and a


Saab 340 has been well employed. We returned to using a managed fleet about 18 months ago, having stopped maintaining the resource when demand fell in the hard times of the industry downturn. Business will remain buoyant for the foreseeable future


and we expect that military-related work and oil and gas charters are only likely to increase in number in the near term. We are opening new offices and our ambition is to have


an office on every continent. We have a very robust strategy for expansion at ACS – and we know exactly where we are going.”


interest of all involved in aviation but it is also creating massive constraints in the handling of air shipments/charters and it is often causing significant additional workload with only minor gains in safety. Years ago the main


The number of charter brokers around has increased, so there is now always someone offering cheap services


criterion for a broker was service. Nowadays, charters are mainly driven by price. The number of charter brokers around has increased, so there is now always someone offering cheap services. However, experience shows that if you have managed a


successful charter flight for a customer, you have a loyal customer afterwards. A prime example of ProAir’s flexibility is our managed


fleet of aircraft. We are permanently on the look-out for additional customers for managed aircraft. With a current fleet of eight aircraft, we have reached a


point where synergies have accrued that make ProAir an interesting partner for owners of aircraft of all sizes. Operating our own aircraft definitely opens doors that would otherwise remain closed.”


24 AIR LOGISTICS CHINA


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