On Sept. 30, 2021, the very day before the start of a week-long holiday celebrating the national day of the People’s Republic of China, Leader Mutual Freight (LMF) received an emergency request from Chengdu Aerospace Corporation (CAC) ⁠— Operation Ruslan, an air charter project of immense size and scale, needed to take off by Oct. 21. With less than 14 days to prepare after the holidays, LMF’s Chengdu branch still took on the case with vigor.

Operation Ruslan is named after the Antonov An-124 Ruslan, the largest military transport aircraft to remain in service today. To meet the challenge of loading Chengdu Aerospace’s high-value equipment when lanes leading to the airport ramp cannot support the delivery, not to mention the difficulty of trucking outsize cargo measuring up to six meters on urban city roads, LMF Chengdu’s Managing Director Leion Wang and Deputy Director Yan Hao created a special task force comprising packaging, trucking, exporting, and customs-processing experts.

On Oct. 8, the first work day after national day celebrations, the LMF task force began their four-pronged approach, with Director Wang leading the customs-processing efforts; Deputy Yan on ramp transport, security check, and transshipment solutions; LMF Chengdu’s domestic shipping department on outsize cargo solutions; and the packaging department on outsize wrapping solutions.

With the assistance of Sichuan People’s Government Foreign Affairs Office and the Embassy of Israel in China, representatives from LMF and the Sichuan Province Airport Group held a debriefing on Oct. 12 upon the joint consensus that the Sichuan Airport Group’s emergency response center will supervise Operation Ruslan, with backup support from the group’s security, depot, and customs personnel.

On Oct. 19, the scheduled departure date of the An-124, LMF’s trucking partners lined up in preparation for loading cargo onto the plane, only to be met with news of the Ruslan’s delayed arrival. Our dedicated task force immediately b