Chapman Freeborn celebrates 40 years of aircraft chartering

This month we’re delighted to be celebrating 40 years of successful aircraft chartering!

Starting out from humble beginnings from an office in London, arranging contracts for Alaska International Air’s L-100 Hercules freighter aircraft, the company has grown steadily and organically.

Today, we are a leading supplier of passenger and cargo air charters to major corporations, private individuals, aid agencies and governments, supporting 450 employees and over 30 offices globally.

Chris Chapman co-founded the company in 1973 and he will proudly lead a weekend of celebrations for staff during the weekend of May 10-12 to mark four decades of air charter achievement.

From moving a 100-ton piece of energy equipment to South America to delivering hundreds of tons of aid for the many relief organisations we work with in Africa and elsewhere, our cargo charter activities are diverse.

Passenger charters involving commercial airliners and smaller business jets today account for a significant percentage of  our international business.

In 1987 Chris Chapman set up the charter operation to support David Bowie’s Glass Spider Tour and since then our company has developed a niche expertise managing flights for high profile music tours, movie promotions and other entertainment industry clients.  The Rolling Stones, U2 and Coldplay are just some  household names to have worked with us over the years.

Chapman Freeborn was also one of the earliest players to arrange private jet charters for corporate travel in the 1980s too, when the industry was still in its infancy.

The photograph above is of the Chapman Freeborn group in 2012. We’ll be updating it next week so keep your eyes on the blog!