Chapman Freeborn Airchartering has won business for a series of aircraft charters to New Orleans, USA, carrying equipment needed to deal with the leak from the site of the Deepwater Horizon rig in the Gulf of Mexico. The global aircraft charter specialist has arranged flights departing from Europe and the Far East in response to the spill with the company’s UK office coordinating an initial cargo charter using a B747- 400F aircraft to transport around 60 tonnes of technical oil spill equipment from East Midlands Airport in the UK to New Orleans.

A B747-200F charter, managed by the company’s Singapore team, also departed to New Orleans from Singapore with an additional 55-tonne consignment. Chapman Freeborn also arranged two further B747-200F charters to transport 80 tonnes of equipment from Qingdao, China, to New Orleans. Qingdao Airport (TAO) reported that the charters were the first time they have supported direct flights to the US.

The company’s passenger charter expertise was also called upon by a Netherlands-based salvage specialist company who were dispatched to the region in the immediate aftermath of the Deepwater blow-out.