Air France KLM Martinair Cargo has launched KickCharter, a collaborative platform for charter flights.
KickCharter is a charter solution enabling customers to share a widebody belly charter with others to one or more of the European carrier’s selected destinations.
KickCharter allows multiple forwarders to ship to destinations not included in the airline’s current summer network. By combining shipment requests, it can offer more competitive charter prices.
Customers can choose the flight, but it will operate only if sufficient capacity is sold before the deadline set for each charter. The carrier is kicking off with a pilot service.
Forwarders will find a selection of lower-deck destinations each with a fixed price per pallet. If the pallet weighs more than three tonnes, an “over pivot rate” will be applied. Customers can participate only with full pallets.
A deadline will be shown for each destination – usually around 7 days before departure. Customers can withdraw before the deadline by revisiting the KickCharter platform using a personal link.
After the deadline, users will be committed to the registered pallets. Once the deadline has passed and if a sufficient number of customers register, AFKLMP Cargo will arrange the aircraft, its crew and the necessary flight permits.
Once this is taken care of, air waybills will be created and the final booking details will be shared.
Said a spokesperson for the European carrier: “Global cargo capacity has changed substantially in recent months. Although capacity is growing, it is still scarce and not all destinations are served in our scheduled network. Gaps in the network are filled by operating charter services, but not all shipments justify a full-freighter solution.
“We have resolved this by developing a collaborative platform, where customers can jointly participate in charter solutions to destinations we currently do not serve. Once we have sufficient cargo to such a destination, we operate the charter. We call this shared charter solution KickCharter.”
The spokesperson added: “This solution is unique in our industry and a new step in our digital transformation. Our team has developed this solution in a relatively short space of time, in response to actual customer needs in these unprecedented times.”
GertJan Roelands, senior vice president of Air France KLM Martinair Cargo, said: “KickCharter reflects our ambition to keep extending our service range based on customer needs, offering next-level technology in combination with the expertise and insight of our teams, who help us make the difference worldwide.”
For further information visit “Our charter solutions”
