ALBION RESPONDS TO CYCLONE CHIDO

The Albion cargo team was recently tasked with setting up an airbridge from Kenya to northeast Mozambique to move approximately 60T/250cbm of urgent humanitarian relief items due to Cyclone Chido which caused widespread destruction to parts of southeast Africa in early December 2024.  The airport in northeast Mozambique chosen to deliver the relief into was Pemba Airport (POL/FQPB), but due to its limited sized runway only small narrowbody freighter aircraft can land there, which ruled out the larger cargo aircraft types, such as the B777F and B747F.  The Albion team were quick to identify which cargo aircraft types and regional based operators would be best suited for this urgent request and arranged for a series of DC9F & B737F flights to clear all the cargo, with daily flights operating over a period of five days.  Prior to the start of the flights the Albion team also arranged for one of the operator’s loadmaster to visit the suppliers warehouse in Kenya, so as to ensure that all the cargo could be packed in such a way that it was loadable on both the DC9F & B737F aircraft types.  The flights were operated successfully and is another testament to Albion’s skill and longstanding expertise in responding to global humanitarian disasters.