Humanitarian airlift from Lyon to Bangui
In response to the health emergency sparked by the Covid-19 pandemic, France fully supports the initiative taken by the European Union in conjunction with humanitarian NGOs and humanitarian actors belonging to the Réseau Logistique Humanitaire, to launch an airlift to deliver humanitarian personnel and cargo to several countries facing an acute humanitarian crisis, most urgently in Africa but also in Asia and the Middle East.
Following a meeting in Lyon on 7 May 2020 with French NGOs an Air Europa B787 leased by the European Commission through the Bioport humanitarian association transported humanitarian workers and emergency cargo, including medical supplies, to Bangui, in the Central African Republic. Two additional flights will carry humanitarian equipment to the CAR in the coming days. (ah)