Check out extracts from Albion & aeroconcept’s interview with Cargo Forwarder Global.
“Great podcast! When you're free, let's have a chat!” All sound business ideas start somewhere. In this case, reaching out to Lewis King from the Albion Aviation Group after hearing his interview on Chris Notter’s Eva Podcast last summer, led to the founding of a promising partnership with aeroconcept in SEP20, and amongst other things, the launch of a new On Board Courier (OBC) service just a few months later. Cargo Forwarder Global spoke to James Wyatt, General Manager of aeroconcept to find out more.
James Wyatt, whose own company aeroconcept provides aviation consulting, support, and training within the air cargo industry, tells me. He reached out to Lewis after his podcast because “it was very clear that we matched on a business ethics level: we're both self-employed and both have a very similar style of running a business.” Following a zoom call and numerous follow-up meetings, the result was a formal partnership focusing on “three pillars of cooperation”. One of those pillars is the “development and launch of a dedicated On Board Courier Product,” whereby Albion Aviation Group is in the lead of the commercial side of things, and aeroconcept manages the operational part.
Wyatt, who himself was an OBC during his college years, explains how the idea came about: “the OBC product fits very, very well on the charter side – both are very ad-hoc.” OBC requests often come in from the same charter client base, depending on the size of the shipment since “you can find that people would be willing to hire a full aircraft for a shipment which could also be hand-carried by a person to that destination on a commercial passenger aircraft.” Urgency, it would seem, knows no price tag, and the pandemic has not only increased the need for flexible solutions, “so we felt it was a good time to launch our product, and things have gone well”, it has also created new service requirements.
The OBC product was launched at the end of NOV20, and the first courier and OBC shipment – important documents – flew from Dubai, UAE in late DEC20. The preparation in the run-up to the launch was intense, as the two companies interviewed and put together a team of global couriers based in the U.S., Europe, Middle East, and Asia, ready to handle shipments on key trade lanes from three main industries: automotive, oil and gas, and medical, along with AOG spares and other critical products.
Wyatt comments: “It was very important for our product that the couriers were selected carefully. The selection of the couriers is vital for two main reasons: firstly, the courier is the person who is on the front line. So even though aeroconcept and the Albion Aviation Group are doing the commercial deal with the client, where we're executing it operationally, the only person who sees the customer at origin and destination is the courier. They represent our company and our brand.” Wyatt outlines the strict application procedure which includes a mandatory online face-to-face interview, too, since the OBCs are more than just a number on a list.
READ THE FULL INTERVIEW BY CLICKING HERE
