Avion Express

Airline overview

Avion Express is a narrowbody ACMI wet-lease airline rooted in Lithuania and selling to a global market. It was founded in 2005 as Nordic Solutions Air Services, renamed UAB Avion Express in 2008, and is headquartered in the Lithuanian capital Vilnius, operating from Vilnius International Airport (VNO). Its IATA two-letter code is X9, its ICAO three-letter code is NVD and its radio callsign is NORDVIND. The corporate website is avionexpress.aero.

Avion Express belongs to Avia Solutions Group, an integrated services group in the global aviation industry, and is the group's platform for narrowbody wet leasing and charter work. The company holds two air operator certificates, one Lithuanian and one Maltese, employs more than 1,700 people, runs over ten operating bases across Europe, Latin America and Asia-Pacific, and has established Avion Express Brasil in Brazil and a regional wet-lease operation at Clark in the Philippines. It is a member of IATA and its operating system is certified under the IOSA safety audit.

Unlike a traditional airline selling tickets to passengers, Avion Express sells whole aircraft with pilots, cabin crew, maintenance and insurance. Client airlines lease aircraft, in X9 colours or in their own livery, to fly their routes; Avion Express does not sell tickets to the public and does not publish a fixed timetable. A Chinese shipper booking cargo space is dealing with the client airline that leases the capacity, not with Avion Express itself.

The company is an IATA member and its operating system is certified under the IOSA safety audit. The dual certificate structure lets Avion Express fly intra-EU services with Lithuanian-registered aircraft and also operate long wet-lease projects across southern Europe, the Mediterranean and the transatlantic with Maltese-registered aircraft. The new divisions in Brazil and the Philippines fill capacity windows outside the European peak geographically, so the same narrowbodies can find work in every season of the year.

For a Chinese shipper exporting to Europe, understanding this leasing model is the first step to understanding what X9 freight capacity means. Chinese e-commerce parcels, consumer goods and light manufactured products often travel in the belly of narrowbody passenger aircraft flown by Avion Express for client airlines during the European holiday peak, on routes between major western and northern European cities and holiday destinations in the Mediterranean and towards Turkey. Because these flights do not carry an X9 cargo code, the air waybill shows the client airline that leases the capacity. Knowing this helps Chinese exporters choose the right booking channel when replenishing stock in Europe.

History

Avion Express grew from a small regional carrier into a leading supplier in the global narrowbody wet-lease market. The key milestones follow.

Fleet and aircraft types

The entire Avion Express fleet is made up of Airbus A320 family narrowbodies, around 55 aircraft, concentrated on the A320-200 and A321-200. The single-type strategy gives wet-lease clients efficiency in crew allocation, spare parts sharing and maintenance scheduling. Some aircraft keep the client airline's livery while on lease and fly scheduled services; the rest fly charters and wet-lease work in X9 colours.

The company operates no widebodies and holds no freighter fleet. Narrowbody belly holds are its only means of carrying air cargo, and the payload and hold dimensions per flight are limited by the A320 family airframe, so it is not suited to heavy or oversized cargo. Actual available belly space and loading limits are those published by the cargo department of the leasing airline on the day.

The ACMI wet-lease model

ACMI stands for aircraft, crew, maintenance and insurance, and describes a lessor delivering a complete capacity package ready for commercial operation. Understanding the model is the key to knowing how cargo moves on an X9 flight.

Current position on China

Within the scope of publicly available information, Avion Express has no cargo office in China, operates no scheduled passenger or cargo service to or from China under the X9 code, and publishes no cargo product of its own for Chinese shippers. Its fleet of A320 family narrowbodies has neither the range nor the hold size for a transpacific or China-Europe trunk route.

The overlap between Chinese export cargo and Avion Express comes mainly on the European leg. Once Chinese cargo has reached a major western or northern European hub with another carrier, and needs to continue by air to a Mediterranean or Turkish holiday city, or in the reverse direction from southern to northern European consumer markets, it may travel in the belly of a narrowbody flown by X9 for a client airline. The right to book that belly space belongs to the airline leasing the aircraft, and the first carrier on the air waybill is not Avion Express.

The Philippines division is based at Clark International Airport and serves seasonal capacity demand from Asia-Pacific airlines. Whether it flies to points in mainland China is not shown in public information. Shippers interested in narrowbody belly capacity within South-East Asia can ask us for the current X9 Asia-Pacific routes and the leasing airlines, then book through that airline's cargo channel.

Network: wet-lease route bands radiating from the Vilnius base

The diagram shows the European and neighbouring route structure flown by Avion Express for clients as diagonal parallel route bands. Aircraft are maintained and dispatched from Vilnius, deployed to bases in western and southern Europe under client contracts, and then fly parallel routes linking northern European industrial cities with Mediterranean holiday destinations. No China sector is drawn because the carrier currently runs no scheduled flights with China as an endpoint.

Narrowbody belly cargo capacity

All Avion Express cargo moves in the belly holds of A320 family narrowbody passenger aircraft. Hold volume is limited and there are firm limits on the weight and dimensions of each piece, which suits light, compact, relatively high-value goods and rules out heavy machinery and dense cargo.

Because the leasing airline sells the belly space, the first carrier shown on the air waybill for this European leg is normally the airline leasing the aircraft. Avion Express supports the flight on the ground with its own crew and engineering but takes no direct part in cargo booking or documentation. Actual space, rates and documentation cut-off times are those published by the cargo department of the leasing airline.

How Chinese shippers connect on the European leg

A Chinese shipper planning to use the European belly capacity of X9-flown aircraft should treat it as short-haul distribution inside Europe, not as a trunk carrier out of China. The practical chain runs as follows.

Commodity types and European market flows

Chinese cargo entering Europe in the belly of X9 client flights follows the structural pattern of Chinese exports to Europe.

Cross-border e-commerce and retail replenishment

During the European e-commerce peak, consumer markets in southern Europe and on the Turkish coast see steady replenishment demand for Chinese consumer electronics accessories, small appliances, apparel and household goods. Narrowbody belly space suits e-commerce restocking that is time-sensitive but moderate in volume.

Samples and urgent spare parts

European trade fair samples, industrial breakdown spares, repaired units and after-sales parts are small and light, and suit same-day or next-day city-to-city distribution on short narrowbody sectors.

Tourism and airline catering supply chains

Hotels, resorts and airline catering chains in Mediterranean destinations have seasonal demand for some packaged foods and consumables. Such goods fall under food hygiene rules and need complete inspection and quarantine documents; acceptance depends on the rules of the leasing airline on the day.

Space for these commodities on the European leg moves with the tourist season: schedules from northern Europe to the Mediterranean are dense in summer and thin in winter. Actual bookable space is that published by the leasing airline on the day.

Documents and compliance

When a Chinese shipper connects to an X9 client flight through a European hub, the document chain spans the exporting country, the EU and the final destination. The Chinese export leg needs a commercial invoice, packing list and air waybill; entry into the EU must meet EU import declaration rules and the access requirements for the commodity type. Products containing lithium batteries are packed and declared under dangerous goods rules, and perishable or temperature-controlled cargo needs cold chain conditions confirmed in advance.

Because the actual carrier on this sector is the leasing airline, documentation and cargo handover follow that airline's cargo terminal rules. Before booking, the shipper should give us the final destination, weight and dimensions per piece and whether dangerous goods are involved; we check the belly limits of the aircraft type on the current X9 flights and then confirm the plan.

What we can do with narrowbody wet-lease capacity

Goodhope Logistics (China) Limited tracks the deployment of European narrowbody wet-lease capacity continuously. For shippers who need distribution within southern Europe and towards Turkey, we provide directly usable services at the following points.

Capacity identification and planning

We follow the wet-lease projects of Avion Express across its operating bases and client airlines, identify the narrowbody belly windows available at any time, and plan a combination of a China export mainline and European narrowbody distribution for Chinese shippers.

Consolidation at China ports and export customs declaration

Shippers can deliver at major gateways including Guangzhou, Shenzhen and Shanghai; we handle consolidation, export clearance and booking with the China-Europe mainline carrier, and complete depalletising and re-palletising at the European hub.

Arrival tracking and exception handling

We track the air waybill from departure in China throughout. If a wet-lease aircraft is swapped at short notice or a schedule slips on the European leg, we notify the shipper promptly and arrange an alternative flight so that cargo does not sit at a hub terminal.

Capacity agreements for regular shippers

For Chinese exporters and cross-border e-commerce sellers who replenish southern Europe and Turkey all year, we can reserve European narrowbody belly windows ahead of the tourist season and bundle them with China export mainline space into a fixed plan, reducing the uncertainty of finding space at short notice in the peak.

Frequently asked questions (FAQ)