Commercial Chartering interview prep.

Behavioural questions to expect

1. Walk me through your career and commercial / charter background in air cargo.
2. Tell me about a charter, ACMI deal, or commercial mission you've handled.
3. Why air cargo chartering vs scheduled belly cargo / forwarding sales / ocean / road freight?
4. Why this segment — ad-hoc / ACMI / block-space / integrator overflow / humanitarian / heavy-lift?
5. Why the firm?
6. What's your read on our fleet, commercial model, and recent charter activity?
7. Where do you see the firm's key segment heading over the next 6-12 months?
8. Walk me through a charter quote you've built — from RFQ to fix.

Technical concepts to master

• Pricing + cost stack

  Block-hour rate · Ferry-leg + positioning cost · Fuel uplift + tankering · Permits + slots + handling stack · Crew duty + FDP limits

• Payload-range + ferry-leg + fuel-uplift mission build

  MTOW + MZFW + MLW · Payload-range curve · Tech-stop economics · Headwind / tailwind tankering · Russian overflight ban + re-routing

• DG + pharma + ground-handling regulatory spine

  IATA DGR + NOTOC · CEIV Pharma + active vs passive cool chain · ULD build + types · Customs + security (ACC3 / CCSF / RA3) · Slot at coordinated airports

• ACMI + wet-lease + block-space + ad-hoc structures

  ACMI (Aircraft, Crew, Maintenance, Insurance) · Wet lease vs damp vs dry · Block-space agreement (BSA) · Ad-hoc charter + back-to-back fixing · Decarbonisation pass-through (CORSIA + EU ETS Aviation + ReFuelEU)

Practical drills

• You are quoting a one-way ad-hoc charter for 95 tons of project cargo, Chicago (ORD) to Frankfurt (FRA), on a B747-400F. The freighter is currently positioned at Atlanta (ATL); ferry to ORD ~1.5 block hours. Mission: ATL-ORD ferry 1.5 BH, ORD-FRA 9.0 BH. Block-hour rate (Aircraft + Crew + MX + Insurance) $18,000/BH. Fuel uplift: ATL 5 t @ $850/t; ORD 110 t @ $920/t; landing + parking + handling ORD $25,000, FRA $45,000. Overflight + landing permits $8,000. Crew positioning + per diem $6,000. Broker commission 5%. Walk through the cost stack, suggest a margin, and propose a quote.
• You run a commercial desk with two B777Fs available for the Q4 peak season (Sep-Jan). A major forwarder offers a 5-month ACMI contract: $15,500/BH, minimum 350 BH/month, transpacific routing. Spot ad-hoc rates currently $20,000-$24,000/BH on similar routes but volatile. Walk through how you decide between locking the ACMI vs running ad-hoc, what main terms + riders you'd push, and how you'd structure the deal.
• You are planning a 100-ton charter, Hong Kong (HKG) to Liege (LGG), on a B777F. Direct great-circle distance ~5,200 nm. With Russian airspace closed to your AOC, available routings: (A) HKG-LGG non-stop via Central Asia / Caucasus / Turkey (~9.0 BH, ~5,800 nm, payload-range tight at 100 t); (B) HKG-DXB-LGG with tech stop in Dubai (HKG-DXB 7.0 BH + DXB-LGG 6.5 BH = 13.5 BH plus 1.5 hr ground, full 100 t payload guaranteed). Fuel: HKG $1,050/t, DXB $720/t, LGG $1,150/t. Block-hour rate $20,000 (all-in). DXB landing + handling $18,000. Walk through the payload-range + cost trade-off and recommend.

Smart-question anchors

• Fleet + freighter mix — main-deck + lower-deck capacity, nose-loader vs side-loader, age + renewal
• Commercial model — ad-hoc vs ACMI vs block-space vs integrator overflow + broker panel relationships
• Customer base — forwarders / OEMs / e-commerce / pharma / oil-and-gas / humanitarian + RFQ rhythm
• Regulatory + certification posture — IOSA / ISAGO / CEIV Pharma + Fresh + Live Animals + DG scope
• Geopolitical exposure — Russian overflight ban impact, Red Sea routing, China-US bilateral, sanctions screening

Sourced from

IATA TACT + DGR + PCR + LAR + CEIV (Pharma / Fresh / Live Animals / Lithium Batteries) certification programmes · TAC Index (Baltic Air Freight Index, BAI00) + WorldACD market data + Drewry Air Freight Rate Index · Cirium + Air Cargo News + The Loadstar + Cargo Facts + FlightGlobal + Aviation Week · IATA IOSA (Operational Safety Audit) + ISAGO (Safety Audit for Ground Operations) registries · ICAO CORSIA + EU ETS Aviation + EU ReFuelEU Aviation SAF mandate · Boeing + Airbus + IL-76 + AN-124 freighter type certificates + aircraft manufacturer payload-range data · Leading charter broker market commentary (frame as 'specialist brokers' in canonical content; names withheld from canonical fields)