Airbus Engines Get a Lift from Chapman Freeborn



“Chapman Freeborn Carries Four Engine Alliance GP7200 Engines for Airbus A380 Program in France”

Detroit, Michigan, October 20, 2005 - Chapman Freeborn Airchartering’s Detroit office was recently involved in moving four massive GP7200 engines for the new Airbus A380 from Bradley - Windsor Locks, Connecticutt, to Toulouse, France. The GP7200 is for 4-engine, 450 seat or greater aircraft, and is generally considered technically advanced and environmentally compatible.

Airbus’s A380 program was started in mid-May of 2001 but these were the first Engine Alliance engines to be shipped for this program. Chapman Freeborn nevertheless was commissioned almost a year ago to be the approved charter provider to move the engines for Engine Alliance and Pratt & Whitney. Engine Alliance is a 50/50 joint-venture between GE Aircraft Engines and Pratt & Whitney.

A large group of both Engine Alliance and Pratt & Whitney employees attended to see these momentous first shipments leave to go to Airbus onboard an Antonov 124 operated by Volga Dnepr. “The handlers in BDL [Bradley - Windsor Locks] did a great job, as did the program engineers and the stand design team in the run up to the move,” said Chapman Freeborn’s Chris Fisher, “The result was a flawless load.”

The loading took two days alone with two loaded on one day and two on the next and each freighter was quite full with each engine weighed a whopping 10,800 kg and each stand was 5.6mx3.6mx3.8m. This trip complimented an earlier charter done by Gavin Deeks and Pierre Van der Stichele in Chapman Freeborn’s London office from Stansted to Toulouse on a British Airways 747-400 freighter. The next move from Pratt & Whitney is expected some time later this year.

Chapman Freeborn is the largest air charter broker in the world with 47 offices in 19 countries worldwide with nearly 450 personnel and an annual group turnover of over USD 250 million. Chapman Freeborn is also a member of the Global Projects Logistics Network (GPLN), which is a non-exclusive professional projects logistics group for independent companies specializing in international projects shipping by air, sea and land as well as specialized lifts and handling of oversized, out-of-gauge and heavy lift cargo.