A330-200 flight delivers humanitarian aid to Colombia

Airbus‚ DHL, and Kuehne + Nagel recently joined forces with French charity Aviation Sans Frontières to collect‚ package and dispatch seven tonnes of humanitarian cargo to Colombia.

The aid – which included wheelchairs, diapers and toys – travelled aboard Colombian national airline Avianca’s newest A330-200‚ which left for Bogotá in early December.  These donations, provided by Aviation Sans Frontières members, were distributed among several children's charities.

This is the first time humanitarian cargo has been handled within the new strategic lead transport provider/lead logistics provider (LTP/LLP) system, which has carried aircraft parts between Airbus facilities in France since the summer of 2008.

Lead transport provider DHL moved the aid collected in western France from Airbus' Nantes site – where it had been stored and dispatched under the responsibility of lead logistics provider Kuehne + Nagel – to Toulouse, joining the rest of the consignment. Kuehne + Nagel completed the process by loading the A330 in time for the ferry flight.

The Airbus Corporate Foundation lent its support to this operation as part of its strategy to develop regular humanitarian flights in collaboration with charities such as Aviation Sans Frontières and its German equivalent‚ Luftfahrt Ohne Grenzen. A minimum of two aid flights per year from France and Germany are planned‚ each using the LTP/LLP system to manage and transport cargo right to the aircraft’s door.