Air transport offers numerous advantages. The farther the destination, the more crucial the speed of shipment becomes. Today, the airport network is relatively dense, increasing the accessibility of flights. For cargo transport, air freight provides very high delivery reliability.
A charter flight is a specialized transport flight offered by an airline only during a specific period or term, rather than continuously. Unlike scheduled flights, which have public and regular connections between airports, a charter involves renting air transport for exclusive use.
In air transport, there are several types of charter services:
· Full charter with the entire capacity of the aircraft reserved under contract
· Partial charter with a specified portion of the aircraft's capacity reserved under contract, while the remaining capacity is available to other logistics companies (part or split charter).
· Charter with a contract for a single transportation or one rotation (ad hoc charter).
· Charter with a contract for a regular sequence of transports (series charter).
· Charter with a contract for an aircraft for a specific season (time charter).
Charters are primarily used in air transport for unscheduled, special flights, which can be either passenger flights or cargo flights.
Their main advantage is that they transport passengers and cargo when regular scheduled flights are unavailable. Charter flights are typically used in cargo transport when the shipment is urgent, of high value, or of oversized dimensions.
Charter flights are direct, traveling from the airport where the cargo is loaded straight to the airport where it is unloaded. They do not make stops along the way, except for refueling if necessary.