Air Charter Service assists Direct Relief with critical Ebola aid flight

Air Charter Service, on behalf of Direct Relief, have chartered a Boeing 747-200 to carry nearly 100 tons of much-needed medical supplies headed to Ebola-ravaged Liberia and Sierra Leone – the largest shipment from the US to fight the crisis to date.

The charter flight, which departed New York’s JFK airport last Saturday, was carrying 9.8 million defined daily doses of medications, enough pre-mix oral rehydration solution to supply two Ebola wards for one year, as well as enough coverall gowns, masks and gloves to meet the annual needs of approximately 280 health workers.

Richard Thompson, ACS’s Executive VP of Cargo, commented: “With commercial cargo or passenger flights into this region almost non-existent, we’re proud that we could help Direct Relief find a solution to get these supplies to where they are so desperately needed. The challenges of organizing a charter like this are understandably immense, but we had the right contacts and experience to obtain the necessary permissions and ultimately allow the client to concentrate on finding more ways to help the people of West Africa”.

On the day of the flight, in front of a strong contingent of press and dignitaries from Liberia, Sierra Leone and The Clinton Foundation, Direct Relief’s CEO, Thomas Tighe, stated; “We must do all we can to prevent further human tragedy caused by this deadly outbreak and help countries avoid an even deeper setback than has occurred already”.

ACS