aerobd.news : Volga-Dnepr Airlines, the leading carrier of oversized and super-heavy air cargo, has used its new AOG (aircraft on ground) service to guarantee a fast and seamless delivery of an aero engine for its customer, Air Caraïbes. The urgent transportation of the 3m wide, eight tonne engine was completed using one of Volga-Dnepr’s Il-76TD-90VD freighters.

To facilitate the fast response, Volga-Dnepr operated two Il-76TD-90VD charter flights. Its team of AOG specialists organized delivery of the replacement aircraft engine from Paris Orly Airport to Lajes Airport on Terceira Island in the Azores where the Air Caraïbes’ Airbus 330-323 had made an emergency landing due to engine malfunction. The second Il-76TD-90VD flight transported the damaged engine back to Orly Airport for maintenance works and restoration.

The process involved in managing the charter request followed the standard operating procedures established by Volga-Dnepr’s AOG service, which was launched to manage the delivery of urgent spare parts to aircraft stranded around the world, and which has been working effectively to benefit customers in the aviation industry. Once a request is received, all related Volga-Dnepr departments are placed on alert, ready to activate the necessary fast coordination and approval of all the flight preparation stages, including loadability confirmation, airport slots, and gaining traffic rights approvals.

“Being an air cargo operator ourselves, we understand the importance of a timely, effective, and traceable solution for customers facing an AOG situation. Our 28 years of experience and expertise, as well as our unique freighter fleet, enables us to guarantee the prompt and high-quality response needed in these situations. We see an increasing demand for our AOG service and will continue to expand the boundaries of our services, embracing new solutions and technologies for the benefit of our customers,” commented Robert van de Weg, Vice President for Sales and Marketing, Volga-Dnepr Group.

Volga-Dnepr Group, in concert with strategic partner CargoLogicAir, announced the introduction of a new AOG service during the Farnborough International Airshow earlier this year and has since been developing this dedicated service since to provide the best possible response to AOG charter requests, utilizing both scheduled and chartered flights, and strengthening its AOG team worldwide. Being always determined to cater to the needs of its freight forwarder and end-customers in the aerospace and aviation sectors, Volga-Dnepr Airlines and AirBridgeCargo – both part of Volga-Dnepr Group – have completed around 800 deliveries of aerospace equipment in the first nine months of 2018, including satellites, aircraft engines, and spare parts, and also operated more than 15 charters in response to AOG situations.