American Airlines Cargo has transported musical instruments for the Orchestre Nationale du Capitole’s three-city tour of Latin America.

694 pieces of cargo including violins, cellos, double basses, three harps and a conductor’s podium were shipped from Paris to Buenos Aires on a wide-bodied flight, then on to Quito and finally Sao Paulo for the Toulouse-based orchestra.

Working in partnership with French forwarder Excess Events, American was charged with not only moving the instruments, but also performance clothing for the 120-strong ensemble that all needed to be completed as one movement to ensure all items arrived together for each concert.

The concerts took place at the French embassies in all three Latin American locations.

The sensitive nature of the instruments meant that they required extreme cargo, being transported by temperature-controlled truck from Toulouse to Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport for the first leg of the journey.

Philippe Ledain of Excess Events says: “Musicians hate to be parted from their instruments for any length of time, so it was essential that they were moved to the Latin America tour in the quickest possible time. Their instruments are their passion, and working with American, we were able to achieve this movement for them.”

American Airlines Cargo regional manager, Kathleen Lesage says: “The orchestra has an exceptional reputation so we were very pleased to have been chosen as the carrier to deliver their precious instruments to the venues across Latin America. And working in partnership with the team at Excess Events, we were able to ensure everything ran exactly to plan.”