In the case of natural disasters, armed conflicts and comparable situations, rapid action is usually required. Aid goods such as medicines, food, drinking water and tents must reach those affected as soon as possible. Since transport to many areas cannot be carried out by lorry and ships cannot be on site fast enough, air transport is crucial for humanitarian aid in many crisis regions. After all, for long distances, there is no faster means of transport than the airplane.
Following severe natural disasters or armed conflicts, the local infrastructure often collapses completely, making many areas inaccessible or very difficult to access. A tsunami in Thailand, a cholera epidemic in Haiti, a hurricane in Puerto Rico, floods in Peru – to provide people in need with medicine, food, fresh drinking water and temporary shelter often is only possible via air supply. In addition to intergovernmental and nongovernmental organizations, air carriers also make a major contribution to supplying those affected in disaster areas. They not only bring aid workers to disaster areas but also transport urgently needed relief supplies by air to crisis areas.
In conflict or disaster areas that are so unsafe that civil aviation cannot operate there, relief flights are carried out by the United Nations Humanitarian Air Service. For other circumstances, civil airlines and airports are also integrated into the aid network. In the process, they work closely with partners such as Aviation without Borders and the Red Cross. As part of this cooperation, they carry out passenger and cargo flights – both in the immediate crisis situation and during the reconstruction phase.