Escape to the Arctic in 24 hours
When a weekend of pilot strikes left thousands of passengers stranded worldwide, one Norwegian company faced a race against the clock to get their employees home from the UK before Monday. Theirs wasn’t any normal route though, with their destination airport in the Arctic Circle requiring a specially trained crew and aircraft with specific equipment on board. With just 24 hours to turn around an aircraft, crew and landing permission, we had our work cut out.
SOLUTION
Using Air Charter Service’s international connections, our charter experts were quickly able to track down a Bombardier CRJ-200 capable of landing in the Arctic conditions of Harstad/Narvik airport. Finding a flight crew qualified to operate in the Arctic Circle at such short notice was more of a challenge. But, thanks to our unrivalled network of operators, within 2 hours we were able to line up the right crew for the task.
Knowing an airport of this size would have restricted opening hours, our operations team stepped in to assist to ensure we could get an opening extension and help arrange the landing permit and out-of-hours terminal staff and ground crew. Meanwhile, to ensure a speedy departure, we pre-printed boarding passes and set up a dedicated check-in desk at Newcastle airport. Passengers were then able to walk straight through security and onto the plane.
From taking the call to the group touching down in Norway, the whole operation took 23 hours. We were also able to help the company with all of the documentation they needed to make an insurance claim for their original cancelled flight.
THE FINER DETAILS
24/7 support
Our 24-hour team were able to take the request and start finding a solution within minutes. We were in constant contact with the group’s event organiser, sharing every detail and up-to-the-minute information on the flight.
Global network, local knowledge
Our unrivalled international network meant we could quickly arrange an out-of-hours arrival. As well as sourcing an aircraft and crew, we were able to bring in airport staff and arrange a last-minute landing permit.
Financial back-up
Thanks to our long-standing relationship with the operator involved, we were able to negotiate credit for the client so they could pay when the banks reopened on Monday.