Air Partner assists humanitarian aid missions throughout 2018
Air Partner’s Freight team faced an extremely busy 2018, which saw the department deliver humanitarian aid across the globe. Missions to those in need included flights between Europe and Libya, Yemen, Central Africa, as well as between various African countries and from the US to the Mariana Islands in the Pacific.
2018 saw an unprecedented year of climate events and natural disasters, as the effects of global climate change came to the fore in a major way. This has placed pressure on aid agencies looking to help the millions of people endangered or impacted by the ensuing chaos, with the logistics of aid coming under particular strain. As a result, this saw a huge amount of demand for the services of London-headquartered consultancy Air Partner, and its Freight division in particular.
Founded in 1961, Air Partner is a global aviation services group that provides worldwide solutions to industry, commerce, governments and private individuals. The firm is a supplier to many national and international organisations, providing aviation solutions to corporates and governments worldwide, including six of the G7 group of governments, NGOs and aid agencies. One of the largest engagements Air Partner faced to this end in 2018 saw the firm coordinate the transport and delivery of more than 2000 tons of relief cargo from the US to Guam and Saipan in the Northern Mariana Islands in response to Super Typhoons Mangkhut and Yutu.
During typhoon season, this saw Air Partner contacted by Radiant Global Logistics to assist with the rapid and secure delivery of supplies to Guam, as the Micronesian island prepared for Mangkhut. Air Partner carried out a number of flights on AN-225 and AN-124 aircraft as it worked to help move urgent relief supplies, including water and meals ready-to-eat. The following month, in the wake of Yutu, Air Partner was further tasked with delivering an array of aid supplies and heavy-duty equipment to rebuild the island of Saipan. Mobilising quickly and successfully, the team completed over 30 flights in less than 30 days using AN124 and B747F aircraft.
Flying cargo to such a remote location was a major challenge, and due to the size of the relief effort plus the volume of flying conducted, Air Partner stationed a member of its team on the island of Guam to personally co-ordinate the cargo from the appointed freight forwarder of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) without delay. This meant Air Partner was able to deliver efficient cargo charter services to its client at a critical time.
Remarking on the firm’s remarkable efforts, Wiley Knight, Director of Humanitarian Aid for Radiant Global Logistics, commented, “Through the support and quality of service that Air Partner provides, we were able to successfully complete these projects within 24 hours after the storm passed. Our partnership and the absolutely essential understanding of rapid response is exactly what we needed to fulfil our missions.”
Mike Hill, Director of Freight at Air Partner, added, “In times of crisis, we are the trusted partner for a wide range of clients. During a year of such devastating natural disasters, my thanks goes to the Freight team for their tireless efforts to get much-needed aid to those desperately in need, as quickly as possible.”
Related: Global aviation group Air Partner acquires UK based SafeSkys.
