Air Partner, the provider of private aviation services to industry, commerce, governments and private individuals worldwide, has this week successfully carried out eight evacuation missions moving a total of 900 people out of the path of Hurricane Dean.
The evacuations were arranged by Air Partner’s Emergency Planning Division, which has a specialist Hurricane Evacuation Programme, using Airbus A320, Boeing 737, Saab 340 and Gulfstream IV aircraft. Flights, carried out for multinational financial service companies, centred in the Cayman Islands and Montego Bay and moved evacuees to Ft. Lauderdale, USA. The evacuees will be returned to their original destination once the storm has passed.
Air Partner’s Emergency Planning Division (EPD) is headed by experts in the UK and US with government, Foreign Office, security, military and political experience. It specialises in preplanned, aviation-supported evacuations worldwide and swings into action when clients come under threat whether from civil unrest, war or natural disaster using private jets, commercial airlines and helicopters as required.
EPD is expecting further uptake in its service due to forecast increases in extreme weather conditions: London-based forecaster Tropical Storm Risk is anticipating that Atlantic basin and US land-falling hurricane activity will be 35 per cent and 20 per cent above the 1950-2006 average in 2007.
The Hurricane Evacuation Programme comprises both exit planning and evacuation. Its rapid response provides clients with the security of vital passenger, financial, departure and destination planning that can be difficult to manage in a time of crisis.
“Our Hurricane Evacuation Programme is a prudent step to any risk management preparation and is ideal for organisations with expatriate staff residing in the Caribbean and other regions susceptible to the world’s worst storms,” said Sue Hazard, Washington DC-based US Director of Emergency Planning, Air Partner.
Air Partner Consultant Jerry Parr, a retired RAF Wing Commander and former fighter pilot, added: “The Hurricane Evacuation Programme is a natural extension of Air Partner’s Emergency Planning division which already provides global rapid air support in the event of political instability and natural disasters.”
In the last 12 months Air Partner has extracted almost 9,000 evacuees from hotspots around the globe, endorsing its place as the world leader for this service. Last year Air Partner evacuated 7,500 civilians caught up in the Lebanon crisis, on behalf of government and corporate clients in Europe, North America, the Middle East, Asia and Australasia.
David Savile, Chief Executive of the London Gatwick-based Air Partner Group, commented: “We believe the Lebanon situation generated the largest civilian evacuation from a war torn country since Vietnam.”
