- Air Canada employee
volunteers packed emergency food kits and other response
supplies destined for Ukraine
MONTREAL, April 26,
2022 /CNW Telbec/ - Air Canada's Boeing 767-300
freighter aircraft departed last night from Toronto to Frankfurt, transporting humanitarian and
medical aid on behalf of Airlink, Flexport.org and GlobalMedic. The
flight carried aid including medical and trauma supplies, water
purification and sanitation kits destined for an area north of
Lviv, Ukraine.
After the flight arrives, Airlink's NGO partner GlobalMedic will
have response teams manage the distribution of supplies to treat
Ukrainian civilians who have been displaced by the conflict, whose
homes have been destroyed, and those injured, expanding the
capacity of hospitals in border regions to provide care.
"Together with our employees, we are humbled to continue our
support for the people affected by the Ukraine crisis. One hundred Air Canada
employees volunteered their time yesterday to pack emergency family
food kits being sent by GlobalMedic, and we are proud to use our
freighter to transport 50 tonnes of aid which includes these
important response tools together with critical medical and
humanitarian supplies for Airlink and Flexport.org quickly to
Europe. Airlink's and
GlobalMedic's infrastructure and teams on the ground meeting our
flight then ensure that the shipments get to their destinations
right after our flight arrives," said Jason
Berry, Vice President, Cargo at Air Canada.
"The humanitarian situation continues to deteriorate in
Ukraine. Co-operation and
coordination are critical to overcoming the supply chain challenges
that have arisen responding to this crisis, and for the second time
since the war began this partnership has proved itself a very
effective one," said Steve Smith Airlink President and CEO.
"Airlink is delighted to be working in partnership with Air Canada,
GlobalMedic, and Flexport.org again to bring aid to the people of
Ukraine."
"One of the biggest challenges in humanitarian relief efforts is
the successful coordination of aid. Yet once again – our
partnership with Air Canada and Airlink, and most recently
GlobalMedic – demonstrates the value of logistics providers and
humanitarian aid organizations coming together for a collective
impact. Through this partnership, we're able to deliver 100,000
pounds of critical aid, including water purification systems,
emergency food supplies, and trauma kits, to those displaced by the
crisis unfolding in Ukraine," said
Susy Schöneberg, Head of Flexport.org.
"GlobalMedic is grateful to Airlink for coordinating this flight
and to Air Canada for flying the mission. This flight will carry
about 100,000 pounds of life saving humanitarian assistance that
will be distributed to displaced families fleeing the fighting in
Ukraine. The cargo will contain
6,400 Family Emergency Kits. Each kit comes with emergency food
items, a solar light, water purification tablets, and a trauma bag.
The items are packed in sealed buckets that are used to collect
water to purify and drink," said Rahul
Singh, Executive Director of GlobalMedic.
Non-profit disaster logistics expert Airlink exists to help
remove the cost of air transportation as a barrier to NGOs
responding to disasters and other humanitarian crises. It was able
to use its long-term partnership with Air Canada, the visibility
and seamless coordination provided by the Flexport platform, and
support from donors, to secure the cargo-only flight making the
delivery of this shipment possible. Since the start of the war in
Ukraine, Airlink has transported
more than 135 tonnes of aid and 221 relief workers for 20
non-profit organizations providing medical care, food, mental
health counseling, clean water, and other essentials to Ukrainian
refugees.
The second humanitarian cargo flight is Air Canada's most recent
initiative supporting the crisis in Ukraine. Previous initiatives include:
- Donation of 100 million Aeroplan Points to facilitate the
travel of Ukrainians to Canada
onboard Air Canada and Star Alliance
partner airlines
- Donation of $10 per booking made on Air Canada's
website starting March 22 for a total donation
of $250,000 to Ukraine relief aid
- Air Canada employees and the Air Canada Foundation
donation of $170,000 to
supporting Ukraine relief aid
- On March 9, Air Canada-operated humanitarian special cargo
flight on behalf of Airlink and other aid partners transport
hospital beds, humanitarian and medical supplies to Warsaw,
Poland and medicines destined for Lviv, Ukraine
- Transportation of rapid response teams to scale up operations
in Europe to help arriving Ukrainian families
About Air Canada
Air Canada is Canada's largest domestic and international
airline, the country's flag carrier and a founding member of
Star Alliance, the world's most
comprehensive air transportation network. Air Canada is the only international network
carrier in North America to
receive a Four-Star ranking from the independent U.K. research firm
Skytrax, which in 2021 also named Air Canada as having the Best
Airline Staff in North America,
Best Airline Staff in Canada, Best
Business Class Lounge in North
America, as well as an Excellence award for its handling of
COVID-19. Also in 2021, Air Canada was named Global Traveler's Best
Airline in North America for the
third straight year. In January 2021,
Air Canada received APEX's Diamond Status Certification for the Air
Canada CleanCare+ biosafety program for managing COVID-19, the only
airline in Canada to attain the
highest APEX ranking. Air Canada
has also committed to a net zero emissions goal from all global
operations by 2050. For more information, please visit:
aircanada.com/media, follow Air Canada on Twitter and
LinkedIn, and join Air Canada on Facebook.
About Airlink
Airlink is a global humanitarian organization delivering
critical aid to communities in crisis by providing airlift and
logistical solutions to nonprofit partners, changing the way the
humanitarian community responds to disasters around the world.
Airlink exists to help remove the cost of air transportation as a
barrier to NGOs responding to disasters and other humanitarian
crises. Its network includes more than 130 aid organizations and 50
commercial and charter airlines. Since its inception in 2010,
Airlink has flown more than 8,000 relief workers and transported
nearly 5,000,000 pounds of humanitarian cargo. In 2021 the
humanitarian aid Airlink delivered assisted 7.8 million people. For
more information, please visit www.airlinkflight.org. Follow
Airlink on Facebook and Twitter.
About GlobalMedic
GlobalMedic is a registered Canadian charity that runs
capacity-building programs and provides disaster relief services to
large-scale catastrophes around the world. GlobalMedic has
responded to 240 disasters in 80 countries, including earthquakes
in Ecuador, Haiti, Japan
and Nepal; tsunamis in
Japan and Sri Lanka; typhoons in the Philippines and Taiwan; hurricanes in Grenada and Guatemala; cyclones in India, Myanmar, Vanuatu and Mozambique; floods in Bangladesh, Mexico and Pakistan; drought and famine in Kenya and Mauritania; epidemics in Liberia and Sierra
Leone; and complex emergencies in Gaza, Iraq,
Mali, Somalia, Syria, Ukraine and Yemen. GlobalMedic has been working in
Ukraine since 2014, supporting
those affected or displaced by increasing conflict in the east of
the country. GlobalMedic teams distributed hygiene items, food
packages, first aid kits, and household water purification units to
vulnerable families. In 2019, GlobalMedic also established a food
security and employment creation program to support internally
displaced persons in the country.
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