At a time when duty of care of employees is paramount, and halting key operations is not a viable option, we’ve been helping clients keep their projects on track with dedicated charter solutions.
Many clients have found that private charter offers many benefits during the COVID-19 pandemic – keeping employees safe, providing direct routes at a time when scheduled flights have been reduced and offering flexibility and control over the flights.
Case study: Crew rotation for offshore vessel
We were asked to provide a round trip charter for 60 on-signing crew and 60 off-signing crew with an extended turn around in Las Palmas to enable an offshore crew switch. This was to be carried whilst providing the safest option for both sets of crew. We chartered a Boeing B737-800 aircraft to enable onboard social distancing for passengers. Due to the crew arriving in from an offshore vessel, we assisted in providing all required documentation to enable the multi-national crew to disembark the vessel and report to the flight whilst remaining within the local rules. We helped to choose the departure airport based on the nationalities of the vessel crews and their ability to source onward travel home, in doing so, we worked closely with our client to ascertain best option.
Where applicable the passengers onward travel itinerary allowed them to check through from the charter to their final destination, meaning they could stay within the strict rules in Amsterdam for transiting passengers who were not allowed to enter the Netherlands. On departure and arrival we provided a representative team to assist passengers and on the departure from Amsterdam assisted in getting the transit passengers baggage from scheduled and onto the charter flight.
Special attention was also made to ensure that the services provided by both airports took into consideration the need to provide space and distance for the passengers and catering was provided onboard the fights to ensure that passengers arrived for duty or to their onward journey refreshed and ready.
Case study: Ship crew rotation
We assisted our client with flights to enable a ship crew rotation of 18 passengers off the coast of Spain. We arranged for an Embraer 145 aircraft, which was chosen to give ample space on-board to enable the passengers to socially distance, keeping seats free between the employees.
Prior to boarding, we arranged for a paramedic from our partner to temperature check all crew.
In addition, our charter specialists coordinated between the origin airport, closed due to travel restrictions, to open specifically for the flight, and then on arrival, also customized arrangements for the crew members to bypass the arrival airport terminal and proceed directly to their vessel.
Case study: repatriation of crew
We were asked to repatriate 100+ passengers of various nationalities out of an Asian hub to a suitable location within Europe whilst airspace remained closed and strict government quarantines were in place.
We sourced an Airbus A330 aircraft with augmented crew to enable the flight to be operated as a straight turn around in thus avoiding the need for crew to rest and the associate risk of crew being put on quarantine. Working with our client we able to get dispensations to operate the flight at short notice and then had to provide all relevant information to ensure that the passengers could also travel by land to the airport from various points within the country due to very strict land transport regulations, this included providing passenger specific information to each passenger.
The aircraft was seated providing consideration to the best opportunity for social distancing. Crew provided onboard service and assistance in PPE and had a dedicated rest area away from the passengers when required.
On arrival at the final destination the flight was met by an Air Partner representative team who assisted passengers including interlining baggage to connecting flights for transit passengers and escorting them to their airside accommodation and onward travel gate.
Find out more
If you're looking for seamless and safe charter solutions to keep your business on track, our aviation experts are on-hand to help.