Chapman Freeborn Airchartering has coordinated a series of aircraft charters to New Orleans, USA, to help tackle the leak from the site of the Deepwater Horizon rig in the Gulf of Mexico.

The global aircraft charter specialist has arranged flights departing from Europe and the Far East in response to the spill - described by US President Barack Obama as "potentially unprecedented."

Chapman Freeborn's UK office coordinated an initial cargo charter using a B747-400F aircraft to transport around 60,000kgs of technical oil spill equipment from East Midlands Airport in the UK to New Orleans.

A B747-200F charter, managed by the company's Singapore team, also departed to New Orleans from Singapore with an additional 55,000kg consignment.

Chapman Freeborn also arranged two further B747-200F charters to transport 80 tons of equipment from Qingdao, China, to New Orleans. Qingdao Airport (TAO) reported that the charters were the first time they have supported direct flights to the US.

Chapman Freeborn representatives attended the airports to help oversee the loading of the cargos and to ensure all flights left on time.

The company's passenger charter expertise was also called upon by a Netherlands-based salvage specialist company who were dispatched to the region in the immediate aftermath of the Deepwater blow-out.

Chapman Freeborn's Amsterdam office arranged for a Dassault Falcon 7X executive jet to transport a team of seven experts to New Orleans - arriving within hours of reports of the incident.

International response teams are using a variety of measures in attempts to manage the Deepwater Horizon spill, which covers an area of around 2,000 square miles and presents a major threat to the region's eco-system as well as its economy.

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