Air Charter Service has been at the forefront of relief operations following the double earthquake that hit Venezuela two weeks ago, arranging charter flights for governments, aid agencies and NGOs.

Ben Dinsdale, Air Charter Service’s Director for Government and Humanitarian Services, commented: “Two devastating earthquakes, measuring 7.2 and 7.5 on the Richter Scale, struck just outside the Venezuelan capital, Caracas on Wednesday evening (24^th June), leaving a trail of destruction in their wake. We started receiving cargo and passenger requests on the Thursday morning and set about finding solutions. The first flight that we had in the air was on Friday morning, carrying a search and rescue team on an A330 from Europe into Caracas. Last week we flew some of those search & rescue teams home, after that stage of the operation ended and the main focus shifted to getting aid to the survivors.

“On the cargo side, a lot of the aid initially flew in on military aircraft, but our first flight into the region was early last week on a B737-800F carrying around 10 tons of vital satellite equipment, to aid communications in the country. Since then, we have arranged multiple charters into the country carrying aid, through our European, Asian and US offices, with cargo including medical equipment, hygiene kits, shelters, mosquito nets, kitchen sets, water tanks and a field hospital. We have two people on the ground in Caracas now, both Venezuelan nationals, one from our Miami office and the other from our Mexico City office. They are there to help coordinate our charters at the airport over the coming days and ensure the safe onward passage of the cargo.

“We have several charters booked that will depart this week, and are expecting more to confirm in the next few days.”