Working together to alleviate damage
The Bahamas were recently hit by the worst natural disaster in the islands’ history, when hurricane Dorian turned the Caribbean country into hell between 1 and 3 September. The final toll registered 56 people killed and 608 still missing at the end of the month. For survivors rapid help arrived from the air, especially from Florida, which has gathered some experience in dealing with storms over the years.
The largest players were amongst the first to bring aid to the devastated islands. CEP service providers such as DP DHL, which has its own disaster response team to deal with such crises, FedEx and UPS cooperated with international aid organisations to fly in vital materials and equipment, including food, blankets, tents, medical supplies, drinking water treatment systems and power generators in their own or in chartered aircraft.
On stand-by
35 t of relief supplies collected by the UPS Foundation filled the entire payload of an aircraft the Latam Group keeps in a state of preparedness especially for such emergencies. The Latin American operator’s humanitarian relief plane took off from Miami FL (USA) heading for Nassau, the capital of the Bahamas. According to Latam Cargo CEO Andres Bianchi the unit “expresses the group’s desire to contribute to the community through concrete service when we’re most needed”.
The Boeing B767-300BCF has already been deployed in South America to this end – for example after an earthquake hit Ecuador in 2016, when forest fires struck Chile and floods Peru in 2017, and after hurricane Maria destroyed large parts of Puerto Rico two years ago.
Legacy carriers from the USA also participated in the overall relief efforts. Delta was on the scene from 8 September onwards, flying goods into Nassau from Fort Lauderdale FL (USA) with a McDonnell Douglas MD-88. The aeroplane returned to the USA with injured and homeless people on board.
Old and new, big and small
The giant online operator Amazon was in action after natural disasters for the tenth time this year, filling two freighters full of relief goods in its fulfilment centre in Tampa FL (USA). It drew its customers’ attention to how modern communications solutions simplify making a donation. “All a customer has to do is tell Alexa – ‘please donate to the Red Cross for Dorian relief’.”
Two other efforts contributed at a smaller scale and also took off from Florida, a hub for aid flights with twin-engined propeller-driven aircraft coordinated by the Humanitarian Lift Project. These are particularly well-suited to the short flights and runways on the islands.
The aircraft deployed by Missionary Flights International (MFI), which operates from Fort Pierce FL (USA), are bigger – and older. “Our Douglas DC-3s covered the 350 km between Florida and the Bahamas 51 times in September, carrying 104 t of supplies,” as MFI communications director Kevin Stratton told the ITJ.
Donations to MFI are different than those made to Amazon, as the charity also has to maintain its fleet from the funds. One mile flown with the robust DC-3s manufactured in the early 1940s costs around USD 5.
