Podcast: Chapman Freeborn’s Saska Gerasimova previews Cargo Facts EMEA 2026

Chapman Freeborn has been especially busy fielding charter requests since the outbreak of the Iran war at the end of February, as airspace closures led to grounded aircraft and a sudden drop in capacity. “It is true that aviation is a very volatile industry,” Group Chief Executive Saska Gerasimova says in this week’s episode of “Cargo Facts Connect.” “So, it’s not about whether a crisis will happen, but it’s a matter of when and where it will happen.” Gerasimova, who was appointed group CEO in October 2025, says that her experience at Amazon Air in Europe, in particular, is helping her understand the needs of cargo customers. “The biggest struggles that our customers have is the uncertainty of the geopolitical situation and the volatility in supply,” she says. “Many customers use these elements as an opportunity and are able to react and adjust quickly, while others are rather postponing the decisions. And this is a very big impact that we’ve seen in the last two or three weeks, for example.” Gerasimova will share her perspective of the freighter market in light of the war and more in a fireside chat on Wednesday, April 29, at Cargo Facts EMEA 2026 in Brussels. “I would really love to challenge the ideas that [fellow executives] present,” she says. “I would really love to hear the ideas that they have of how we can work together to minimize the impact on the customers, [not just] in the short term, but also in the long term.” Tune in to this week’s episode of “Cargo Facts Connect” to hear Gerasimova discuss her upcoming fireside chat with Editor Jeff Lee. A transcript is available below. This transcript has been generated by software and some transcription errors may remain. Jeff Lee Hello and welcome to another episode of Cargo Facts Connect, the podcast of cargo facts, the newsletter of record for the air cargo and freighter aircraft industries for over 40 years. I’m Jeff Lee, editor of Cargo Facts, and it’s Monday, the 20th of April. We're a week away from Cargo Facts EMEA 2026 in Brussels, where I will be talking with Chapman Freeborn's group CEO Saska Gerasimova in a fireside chat. Ahead of that, we thought we would quickly check in with her as she prepares for her stage debut since being appointed to her role six months ago. Jeff Lee Well, hello, Saska. Very good to have you here with us on the Cargo facts Connect Podcast, as we look forward to Cargo facts EMEA in Brussels next week. But we wanted to talk to you briefly before that, just to set the stage for next week. And so to let everyone know who you are and your background, why don't you tell us a bit about yourself and what led up to you being the CEO of Chapman Freeborn? Saska Gerasimova Well, first of all, thank you, Jeff, for the invitation. It is a pleasure to be part of such an important event for the Cargo industry, especially nowadays in the circumstances around the world. My past experience and the relevance, well, I have over 20 years of experience in the aviation industry. And whilst the vast majority of my career has been in the commercial and fleet roles within the passenger airline, in the last couple of years, I worked for Amazon Air, which is at this moment one of the most important Cargo customers in today's world. That blend of commercial, operational, and supply chain experience is what enables me to understand both our customer needs and our suppliers' capabilities. As you are aware, Chapman Freeborn Group is a wide portfolio of services on both the passenger and Cargo side. Jeff Lee Great. And yeah, so next week we'll dive into a bit more of your background and how it's helping you with today. But, you know, speaking of today and the current events that are happening around the world, it's, I don't think anybody could really have prepared for this, you know, despite the experience. But, you know, how are you, just briefly, how are you dealing with everything that's happening today? And I'm sure you, we were just talking with you that you've been very busy, you didn't really even have a weekend to enjoy. Saska Gerasimova It is true that aviation is a very volatile industry. So it's not about whether a crisis will happen, but it's a matter of when and where it will happen. And Chapman and Freeborn grew by being a global company. We are always prepared to support the specifically impacted region. In this case, it was the EMEA and we have received a very big support from the European and Americas region to help the colleagues over there. And the diverse portfolio of services and products also provides diversification of risks as demand shift between passenger and Cargo segments. Because we are aware that, for example, COVID was a very good, let's say, opportunity for Cargo segment, while in this case, we relied on passenger evacuation flights that we executed successfully in the beginning of March. And following major disruptions, we always conduct detailed lesson learned reviews to continuously improve our crisis response capabilities and support our customers always in a better manner. Jeff Lee Yeah, it's with, you know, you being such a big group and with activities on both the Cargo and passenger sides, I can't imagine it being very easy and, you know, dealing with all this that's happening and, you know, things changing every minute almost. But when you focus on the Cargo market, for example, what would you say are the main things that stand out to you in terms of helping your customers and how do you assess the Freighter market, the state of the Freight market today. Saska Gerasimova I would say that currently the biggest struggles that our customers have is the uncertainty of the geopolitical situation and the volatility in supply. Many customers use these elements as an opportunity and are able to react and adjust quickly, while others are rather postponing the decisions. And this is a very big impact that we see in the last two or three weeks, for example. And our role as a Chairman Freeborn Group is to support them in both scenarios and guide them and give them the best solution in either case. In this specific, let's say, Middle East crisis and the impact, we saw two elements that had the biggest impact, with one being the capacity and the shortage of capacity due to limitation of operational capabilities of many Middle East carriers and closure of airspace, but second being the increased operational cost that have led to many customers not being able to contract because they don't know what the end price will be. And this is, let's say, the impact is that we are seeing geographic areas like Asia and Americas reacting the most due to the trade flows closely being linked to Middle East transit routes. Jeff Lee Yeah, it's interesting, but a whole lot of challenges for you and your team, I'm sure. And we'll talk about more of that next week. But in the meantime, as far as Cargo Facts EMVA goes, this, I believe this will be your, well, this will certainly be your first time speaking, but is it your first time attending our event? Saska Gerasimova No, no, no, I have, I have attended previous events, yes. Jeff Lee Okay, good. Well, as a speaker, what are you most looking forward to this time at Cargo Facts EMEA? Saska Gerasimova I'm really looking forward to meeting our, let's say, fellow colleagues from the airline industry, from all segments of the industry, I would say, and just discussing their view because every segment of the Cargo industry is differently impacted. And I would really love to challenge the ideas that they present. I would really love to hear the ideas that they have of how we can work together to minimise the impact on the customers in this short term, but also in a long term period, because we anticipate there will be fluidity on the market in the coming weeks as well. So it is important for us to mutually work toward bridging that, let's say, impact for our customers. Jeff Lee Good, good. And I'm sure they're also looking forward to hearing what you have to say. So lots to discuss next week. But in the meantime, thank you for your time and we can't wait to see you next week. Saska Gerasimova Thank you very much and I'm really looking forward to meeting you all in person. Jeff Lee Thank you, Saska. See you. Jeff Lee That was Saska Gerasimova, group CEO of Chapman Freeborn. And that’s all the time we have today, but we hope to see many of you at Cargo Facts EMEA in Brussels next week. For more coverage of the freighter aircraft market, visit cargofacts.com. Thank you very much for tuning in, and join us again next time. Subscribe to Cargo Facts Connect on iTunes or Spotify , or download the episode on Transistor . Cargo Facts EMEA 2026 will take place April 28-30 in Brussels at the Marriott Hotel Grand Place. For more information and to register, visit CargoFactsEvents.com .

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