Air Partner and TALA: Keep aircraft off ground

2015 was a busy year for Air Partner, the global aviation services group, and The Aerospace Logistics Alliance (TALA), with the two organizations performing a number of charter flights together for customers in the aerospace and automotive industries.

TALA was founded with the motto of keeping “Aircraft off Ground” and is relied upon to deal with the urgent time-critical logistics of the Commercial Aviation industry. The organisation calls upon a wide network of worldwide branches that can provide a “one-stop shop” of logistics solutions for commercial airlines, OEMs and MROs. At TALA’s core is a real passion for aerospace logistics, and accordingly it has handpicked its members and associates very carefully to reflect its heritage in this industry.

Over the past few months, TALA and Air Partner have co-operated in providing a number of specialist solutions to the aerospace industry. For example, a small King Air turboprop was chartered out of London Southend Airport to Zurich on behalf of TALA UK carrying urgent parts for an Avro RJ85 that was AOG in Switzerland. In addition, a very urgent OBC was arranged for the delivery of a document log from Dublin to Madrid.

Various UK international airlines have also called upon Air Partner to help resolve AOG situations facing their aircraft fleets. Air Partner organised a replacement engine to be flown urgently on an Ilyushin 76 – IL76 from the UK to Amman in Jordan; the aircraft then waited for 48 hours while the necessary repairs were undertaken before bringing back the unserviceable engine. On the smaller end of the spectrum were four transportations of aircraft parts – two from East Midlands airport to Shannon, Ireland on Cessna Citations and two from Birmingham to Stockholm on AN12s – as well as an urgent lift of aircraft tyres from the East coast to the West coast of the US.

In Europe, Qualitair&Sea as TALA France, the parent company of TALA, asked Air Partner’s Freight office in Germany to perform a number of emergency spares cargo charters, including an AN12 charter into Libya and an urgent AN26 flight into the UK during the port blockade at Calais. Meanwhile, Air Partner’s Turkey office provided a just-in-time airlift of automotive spares from Istanbul to Europe, chartering an A310 freighter for the operation.

Stuart Smith, Global Business Development Manager, Air Partner Freight, commented: “Air Partner continuously looks to partner with networks or groups that complement our core strengths in air charter. TALA is a highly trusted organisation within the logistics industry and we look forward to working more closely with the team as it grows its operations.”

Joel Glusman, CEO of the TALA Group, said: “Qualitair&Sea and TALA France have successfully co-operated with Air Partner on aircraft charters for over 4 years now. Going forward, we expect to work more closely with the freight division in particular as we look to create working relationships within each other’s customer and supplier bases. We believe that Air Partner can continue to bring a lot of value to TALA members globally.”

Air Partner PLC was one of the early associate members to join TALA and it continues to provide urgent aircraft charter and aviation consultancy services to the organisation. Air Partner, which is listed on the London Stock Exchange (LSE: AIR), is an aviation services group headquartered in Gatwick, UK, with a network of offices around the world.