NEO Air Charter and customer Blue Water Shipping pulled out all the stops to deliver urgent heat pipes needed to keep the heat on in Iceland.
Some 20,000 households on the Reykjanes Pensinsula endured -15 degree temperatures without heating, after earthquakes and volcano eruptions damaged underground heating pipes.
Blue Water Shipping of Billund, Denmark and NEO staff worked through a Sunday to locate and book a suitable aircraft – a Bluebird Airlines B737F – to operate the emergency flight from Cologne to Keflavik.
They also arranged ground transport for the 90-minute journey from the pipe manufacturer to the departure airport.
Despite cargo handler- and Customs staff shortages caused by the local Rose Monday public holiday, and an error in the declared size of the packages, NEO succeeded in having the pallets broken down, the 1000 boxes of pipes individually X-ray scanned and re-packed onto 41 pallets, and then the shipment loaded onto the waiting freighter.
NEO staff were on hand in Cologne to oversee the whole ground handling and loading process and flight took off less than 24 hours after the initial booking. The goods arrived in Keflavik the same evening.