The Albion Broker Institute has completed its first in-house training course for a freight forwarder wishing to set up an in-house charter desk.

UAE-based ITS Logistics was the freight forwarder in question, with five sales and operations staff undergoing the training at their office in Dubai.

The five attendees learnt how to contract and execute a cargo charter flight, and the importance of working with compliant and audited aircraft operators.

Lewis King, director of Albion Aviation Group says this was the first training course in the Middle East, with more lined up in October.

He tells Air Cargo Week says: “One with a freight forwarder and the other a cargo operator, both in the Middle East. Freight forwarders in particular are showing a lot of interest in our professional training courses.”

The feedback from the attendees will help enhance the service offered, with King saying: “We send out a comprehensive feedback form to each attendee after the course. Based on this feedback we constantly look to make improvements to our course material.”

King says attendees join the Albion Broker Institute’s exclusive alumni after the course, receiving access to a mentor to answer any questions.

He says: “They also benefit from additional bonus training material issued every quarter, i.e. flight contracting do’s and don’ts & where to find the next big charter opportunity. This is proving to be most popular and keeps me busy.”

Riszard Rzepa, general manager of ITS expressed satisfaction with the service, saying that the company had wanted to establish an in-house charter desk for some time but there had not been a professional charter broker training service available until now.

He says: “We arranged for ABI to conduct a two-day training course with our staff and we look forward to offering this new service to our clients. ABI was able to provide a comprehensive training program covering all the key aspects of cargo aircraft charter brokerage.”