ACS transports aid to Turkiye, Syria
ACS has arranged multiple charters on aircraft including IL-76, B737, B747, B757 and B777 into Adana and Damascus
Air Charter Service (ACS) has arranged multiple passenger and cargo aircraft charters into Turkiye and Syria to transport search and rescue teams from around Europe along with essential humanitarian aid for the victims of the devastating earthquakes.
"The first of its flights arrived on Tuesday morning from Spain and the U.K. government’s arrived later that day," says an official release.
Ben Dinsdale, Director, Government and Humanitarian Services, ACS, says: “Following some research, we ascertained that Gaziantep Airport – closest to the epicentre – was fortunately still fully functional. This was ideal for search-and-rescue teams but that meant that it would become exceptionally busy very quickly and, with limited loading equipment, was not the best choice for our cargo charters. Adana, however, had more room as well as a high loader available and Damascus in Syria also had good availability of loading equipment.
“We had our first representative on the ground at Gaziantep Airport overseeing the arrival of our first flight – a chartered Airbus A330-200 from Germany, carrying a search-and-rescue team on board. The U.K. government’s Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office’s first search-and-rescue team, including dogs, arrived on board another Airbus A330-200, which was also carrying vital cargo in its hold.
“So far we have had several aircraft land in Gaziantep with search-and-rescue teams from around Europe. Towards the end of last week, we started flying in cargo charters, the first of which arrived into Adana, from Spain, on Thursday on a Boeing B747-400 carrying an entire field hospital. Since then, we have arranged multiple charters on aircraft including IL-76, B737, B747, B757 and B777 into Adana and Damascus, as well as one each to Incirlik Air Base, in Turkey and Aleppo, Syria.
“Having someone on the ground in Gaziantep so soon after the initial earthquake was a huge help in coordinating the passenger charters we have had going in. He had to sleep at the airport itself, and was available to assist with all our flights at any hour of the day. With many of the cargo flights now going into Adana, we now also flew someone in to oversee everything there.”