National Air Cargo to supply Kandahar

National Air Cargo to supply Kandahar    National Airlines is adding a second stop in Afghanistan to its weekly DC8 freighter service transporting equipment and supplies for redevelopment efforts, parent company National Air Cargo said.
   The company, based in Ypsilanti, Mich., began providing cargo flights to Bagram Air Base in April and will now deliver goods to Kandahar Air Base as well. The new flight will depart Willow Run Air Airport every Friday.
   National Air Cargo is a freight forwarder that acquired a small cargo airline in late 2006. The airline subsidiary, which operates three DC8 freighters made in the 1960s, belongs to the Civil Reserve Air Fleet (CRAF) and flies military cargo under contract to U.S. Transportation Command as part of the UPS team. CRAF participants provide airlift surge capacity during times of military crisis in exchange for receiving certain levels of peacetime contracts.
   The Afghanistan flights, however, are chartered by civilian contractors working for the U.S. military and other government agencies, Glen Gates, director of the company's global charter management group, said.
   Each flight contains about 40 tons of supplies, including electrical generators; pumps, hoses and command stations for water purification systems; and medical supplies, to help with the construction of hospitals, power plants, water treatment facilities, libraries and other facilities in and around both air bases, Gates said. ' Eric Kulisch