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More aid to the Philippines

[ November 19, 2013   //   ]

Air Charter Service Late now has an An12 operating from Cebu and Davao into Tacloban and Guiuan, easing the backlog of the aid brought in by the larger freighters to these hubs where the warehouses are full. Justin Lancaster, group cargo director at ACS, commented: “We decided to position the aircraft into the region at our own expense, knowing, from the amount of large cargo aircraft we had flying into Cebu, that it would be needed to get the relief goods to those who needed it as quickly as possible.”
Fellow charter Air Partner added that, due to airport overcrowding in the Philippines some airlines are being diverted to airports where they don’t have fuel agreements in place. Air Partner, which provides refuelling facilities in over 3,000 locations worldwide, has been leveraging its relationships and in-house expertise to provide clients with fuel uplifts in Manila.

Air Partner staff based at Mactan Cebu International Airport, report that while there are no fuelling issues at Cebu, aircraft are only being provided with enough fuel to get out of Cebu to a destination where they can fuel up fully. Most recently a Boeing 747 freighter aircraft was due to land at Cebu (CEB), but due to overcrowding on the ground was diverted. The aircraft had no fuelling agreement setup at Manila, and turned to Air Partner to arrange a 25 tonne fuel uplift.

Paul Walker, from Air Partner’s Fuel division, said, “Fuel supplies in Manila are severely depleted at the moment, and an emergency shutdown of a local refinery has not helped. However, due to the network of relationships that we have developed within Air Partner’s Fuel division, along with extensive in-house expertise, we have been able to assist this client, and organise the aircraft’s refuelling. We will continue to monitor the situation in Manila closely.”

Air Partner flew an Antonov AN-124 from Europe to Cebu on Sunday November to transport 85 tonnes of ground handling equipment to assist the situation on the ground.  This includes airport handling equipment such as pallets, tugs, main deck loader, forklift and Hilux vehicles.

Richard Smith, Air Partner’s Product Director for Freight, said, “We are continuing to work around the clock to get aid supplies to Cebu as quickly and efficiently as possible.  Our team on the ground report that aid is now being unloaded straight onto the airport apron, as it awaits onward distribution.  The ground handling equipment we sent is expected to further assist the handling of aid at Cebu work.”

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