Amazon is utilizing its air cargo network to help establish a humanitarian air bridge to Venezuela, where more than 3,800 people have died and nearly 2 million people need lifesaving aid following devastating twin earthquakes last month.
Other cargo airlines are also supporting relief efforts in the South American nation.
Amazon Air Cargo (NASDAQ: AMZN), the wholesale air cargo business that sells excess capacity on Amazon’s private freighter fleet to freight forwarders and other third-party shippers, will deploy seven weekly flights from Miami to Caracas with relief supplies for Venezuela, the company announced this week.
The flights are made possible through coordination with Airlink, a non-profit group that matches humanitarian requests with airline capabilities, the U.S. Department of State and the United Nations World Food Program.
The first flight departed Miami International Airport Thursday morning, an Amazon spokesperson said. A photo of the aircraft being loaded in Miami shows that the plane is a Boeing 767-200 converted freighter operated by 21 Air, an all-cargo airline under contract with Amazon to move packages in its parcel delivery network.
Amazon is donating the aircraft and fuel. Airlink collects donated supplies and delivers it to a Seko Logistics warehouse in Miami for screening and building pallets. The State Department is coordinating access with local authorities and the World Food Program is managing logistics on the ground in Venezuela.
Amazon began offering its logistics and air cargo capabilities for disaster relief efforts nearly a decade ago. Venezuela marks the first time it has worked directly with Airlink.
In a disaster of this magnitude, coordination and speed of response is everything. Amazon’s donated airlift capacity allows us to move quickly and efficiently to heavily-impacted communities in Venezuela — eliminating bottlenecks and ensuring that every flight delivers what they need most,” said Airlink President Paloma Adams-Allen in a news release.
According to UNICEF, an estimated 1.8 million people, including 680,000 children, require humanitarian assistance following the earthquakes. The earthquakes caused widespread destruction, displacement, and significant damage to homes, infrastructure, and essential services across affected communities.
Caracas’s Simon Bolivar airport was damaged by the earthquakes and only one runway is in operation, slowing flight activity there.
DHL joins disaster relief effort
Meanwhile, since the emergency began DHL Group has mobilized its air network, also with help from Airlink, to operate three humanitarian aid flights to Venezuela, helping aid organizations move critical supplies into affected areas. The first flight, on June 27, transported about 25 tons of search-and-rescue equipment and humanitarian supplies collected by the governments of Panama and Costa Rica to support immediate response efforts on the ground, the company said in a news release on Friday.
A second flight, operated on Tuesday from Panama City to Caracas, transported 44 tons of humanitarian aid. On Thursday, a third flight arrived in Venezuela with another 40 tons of aid, including emergency shelter materials, hygiene kits, medical supplies, food, blankets, solar lanterns, mosquito nets, kitchen kits, water containers and other items. DHL used a Boeing 757 for one of the flights and a larger Boeing 767 for the other two flights.
More than 65 DHL employee volunteers in Ecuador, Costa Rica, Panama, Miami, and other locations across the Americas helped sort, consolidate, and palletize relief supplies. The donations were then consolidated at DHL Express’ regional logistics hub at Panama’s Tocumen International Airport for onward delivery to Venezuela.
DHL has also deployed its Disaster Response Team to help coordinate the movement of critical aid from governments, UN agencies, NGOs and private-sector partners across the Americas
Colombia-based Latam Group coordinated two special cargo flights in the days shortly after the earthquake struck, utilizing Boeing 767 freighters, the company previously announced. The donated flights carried equipment to set up a field hospital, water and sanitation systems, support equipment, power generators and critical medical supplies, such as hospital beds, triage equipment, and personal protective equipment to support emergency response efforts.
Other airlines, such as Avianca and Gol in Brazil, have delivered relief supplies on scheduled passenger flights to Venezuela.
Click here for more FreightWaves/American Shipper stories by Eric Kulisch.
Write to Eric Kulisch at ekulisch@freightwaves.com.
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