During disasters come together and help those in need. This is the message that the global aviation’s who’s who attending the 72nd International Air Transport Association (IATA) Annual General Meeting will hear.  

The call comes in the backdrop of estimates that the number of people affected by disasters will head southwards and the fact that 60 per cent of humanitarian funding goes towards meeting the cost of supply chain management.

“There is also an economic impact as these people cannot think  beyond survival,” said Christine South of the Disaster and Crisis Management Department Programme Services Division of  the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.

She pointed out that airlines could help in a variety of ways including providing warehouses for storage of goods that need to be transported to an area affected by disaster. Besides, with airlines taking delivery of more and more aircraft, NGOs are keen that these empty aircraft be used to carry relief material as and when the need arises.

As part of this initiative, Akbar Al Baker, Chief Executive Officer of Qatar Airways, was invited to visit the NGO stall and sensitised on the issues involved. “We will be talking to the CEOs about how they can come together and be more powerful in transporting things in a disaster. We would seek to engage more with the CSR people,” said Steven J Smith, Executive Director, AirLink. Incidentally, some airlines including Nepal Airlines, Thai Airways, South African Airlines and Emirates are among the 13 that have joined the Airbus Foundation and used their delivery flights to transport emergency relief material. At the moment, no airline from India is part of this Airbus Foundation programme.

(This correspondent is in Dublin at the invitation of IATA)

Related Topics
comment COMMENT NOW