Operation Air Care To MSY

By Geoffrey Arend

     The Air Transport Association (ATA), the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Transportation and major U.S. flag airlines launched “Operation Air Care” to provide emergency airlift to more than 25,000 New Orleans residents stranded in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.
     “This extraordinary civilian airlift is unprecedented in U.S. history, and is a shining example of how America can come together to help those in need,” said ATA President and CEO James C. May.
     “Our member airlines have willingly offered to help the federal government get the job done and we will continue these efforts until they are no longer needed.”
     Flights will depart from Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport to sites designated by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, such as Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas.
     Passenger carriers participating in this effort include Alaska, America West, American, ATA, Continental, Delta, Jet Blue, Northwest, Southwest, United, US Airways, and Air Canada. Cargo carriers also are providing support, including ASTAR Air Cargo, FedEx and UPS Airlines.
     The Air Transport Association and its member carriers, who are providing aircraft and crews are coordinating the all-volunteer effort.
     FedEx donated movement of an MD11 full of Red Cross emergency relief cargo from Newark to MSY that arrived early this afternoon (9/2).
     Southwest Airlines flew a Boeing 737 from Dallas to New Orleans today (9/2) just before noon.
     The scene right now at MSY is reminiscent of Beirut, Lebanon in 1978, as chaos all around turned that airport and now New Orleans International Airport into a media center triage central and beacon of hope surrounded by utter chaos and despair almost everywhere else.
     At MSY, patients from doomed New Orleans hospitals are all over the place; on baggage carts and makeshift stretchers, and in some cases lying quietly on thin blankets awaiting evacuation.
     At least 1,000 patients have been brought in here to be flown to Houston, Nashville, and Atlanta hospitals.An indication that the airlines wanted to get relief going for New Orleans was apparent Tuesday when American Airlines landed a Boeing 757 full of supplies and evacuated 100 employees and stranded passengers.

Louis Armstrong International Airport reopened to allow humanitarian flights in and out during daylight hours. Airport people said there is no significant airfield damage and no standing water in aircraft movement areas.
Yesterday 140 refugees from New Orleans were flown from MSY to ATL aboard a Delta Air Lines piloted by two of the company's vice presidents, accompanied by CEO Jerry Grinstein.
The passengers were among hundreds of people, including sick and infirmed at MSY.
Mr. Grinstein told the Associated Press that MSY resembled a scene from "MASH."
The flight delivered plywood, tarps, water, generators and other relief goods to the New Orleans airport.
At ATL, passengers moved into waiting buses that took them to area hotels.
Delta executive vice president Joe Kolshak said some passengers, “were still wet when they landed.”
Delta flies to MSY again today (9/2) on another mission to airlift victims of Hurricane Katrina.

Boeing said it will donate $1 million to the American Red Cross for Hurricane Katrina relief efforts and will match employee and retiree contributions to that organization through the company's Employees Community Fund. The match is dollar-for-dollar for employees and 50 cents-on-the-dollar for eligible employees retired from Boeing. Offer extends through September 26 . . .

Exel confirmed that it has received a takeover approach from Deutsche Post. “Discussions are at a preliminary stage and there can be no certainty as to their outcome. A further announcement will be made in due course,” said Exel. Expect UPS and FedEx to be part of any bid to acquire Exel.

Association of European Airlines July numbers reflect a buoyant Far Eastern market driving growth, with intra-European traffic maintaining a moderately strong increase, while the North Atlantic drags down the show. Overall, passenger-kilometer growth was 7.0%, with Far Eastern traffic up 13.0%. Intra-European traffic volume grew by 6.5%, with cross-border flows substantially stronger than domestic. North Atlantic traffic increase was put at 2.2%. Load factors at 81.1% jumped 2.2 percentage points above July 2004.

Northwest Airlines Corp. projects a third-quarter net loss of about $4 million per day as fuel prices rose in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. Quarterly NWA red -ink could top $400 million.

The Board of Directors of Air France-KLM yesterday noted that the combined carriers recent performance includes robust unit revenues in both passenger and cargo. Current operating profit jumped by 27.4%, during the first quarter of the 2005-06 year to 223 million Euros.