There is disclosed an aerosol-generation apparatus which is suitable for use as part of an aerosol-generating system (10) of a type which may be used as a smoking substitute. The aerosol-generation apparatus has a heater (24) and a fluid-transfer article (34), the fluid-transfer article including a first region (34a) for holding an aerosol precursor and for transferring said aerosol precursor to an activation surface (38) of a second region (34b) of said article, the activation surface being disposed at an end of the article configured for thermal interaction with a heating surface of the heater. The activation surface has at least one channel (40) therein and is configured such that, when the fluid transfer article is arranged with respect to the heating surface for thermal interaction therebetween, the or each channel opposes the heating surface and opens towards said heating surface. The heater has a substrate(35) forming the heating surface and at least one heating element (36) on a part of that heating surface. The or each channel opposes a part of the heating surface other than that part of the heating surface on which the heating element is formed.
