Another Huge Project Cargo Move for Heavy Lift Airfreight Specialist

AUSTRALIA – BRAZIL – The latest successful project freight movement for Kiev headquartered Antonov Airlines was completed recently utilising three flights on AN-124 aircraft from the company fleet.

The flights, chartered by Chapman Freeborn, made a number of technical stops because of the total weight of the cargo, as well as Covid-19 restrictions for crew rest at the airports on the route. Rapid Covid-19 tests were conducted during each 14-hour rest window prior to the next leg of the flight being cleared. Chapman Freeborn Cargo Broker, Ana Bocchini commented:

“The timeline was challenging, initially our flight plan was six days in total, however we needed to change this to nine days after assessing the load. In the end it came together with some meticulous planning and by changing some legs of the journey to avoid delays and closed runways."

The cargo in this case weighed in at a total of 370 tonnes, new machinery parts for a mine in Brazil and essential to keep work at the plant going. Antonov completed the flights to deadline for the new parts to be delivered in time for the mining machinery to be updated so that the plant could continue to run efficiently and safely.

The freight included a giant drill shaft and a transport cradle, which was required for upgrading machinery at the final destination with minimal down-time affecting operations. Antonov’s load planning engineers designed tailored frames to carry two of the pieces of equipment and the cargo was loaded and unloaded using the company’s in-house engineering solutions for the oversized project cargoes. Volodymyr Goncharov, Commercial Executive at Antonov Airlines said:

"This was a challenging project, which we had to complete to a tight deadline. Using three AN-124 aircraft to airlift these special project cargoes allowed us to perform the programme of round-the-world flights successfully. The flights were a success thanks to well-coordinated efforts and good communication between the teams at Antonov Airlines and Chapman Freeborn."

Photo: The cargo included a giant drill shaft, which was required for upgrading machinery at the final destination to ensure minimal down-time affecting operations.