Air Austral, a French airline headquartered on Réunion Island, has awarded a 5-year ULD management contract to CHEP Aerospace Solutions, the leading global provider of outsourced Unit Load Device (ULD) management and repair solutions.

Air Austral operates a widebody aircraft fleet of three B777, and took delivery of its first B787-8 Dreamliner in May 2016, making it the first French airline to operate an aircraft of this type. Air Austral has chosen CHEP’s unique pooling model to drive efficiency, reduce its costs, and benefit from the increased fuel and CO2 savings made possible with CHEP’s lightweight containers.

Air Austral VP Ground Operations and Security, Jean-Jacques Roy, said: “Our partnership with CHEP provides us with immediate cost savings as we don’t have to buy ULDs for our new Dreamliners. Due to the seasonality of our flights and peak periods in our schedule we appreciate that we can flexibly adapt the ULD inventory in our stations and only pay for the units we use as well as being able to generate additional cargo revenue opportunities due to the weight savings of CHEP’s lightweight containers.”