Air freight of artworks

When forty works leave a museum for a show across the Atlantic, they do not all go on the same aircraft. Art policies set a limit per conveyance, often per aircraft: above it, the art underwriter or broker spreads the crates over several flights or several days. The reason is accumulation: one accident would destroy the whole loaded collection, and the insurer does not want that maximum loss on a single line. The air carrier's liability under the Montreal Convention is capped at an amount per kilogram, twenty-six special drawing rights since the revision of December 28, 2024, a long way from the value of a painting. The owner's real protection is therefore its own policy, with the air waybill as one piece of the file. Most of the exposure is on the ground anyway: the crate goes into the hold, waits on the apron, sits in a cargo zone where the temperature swings.