Soon after the magnitude-7.0 earthquake struck Haiti on January 12, killing more than 200,000 people and displacing more than a million more, relief began arriving by air. Toussaint L’Ouverture International Airport–the main gateway to
the island nation’s ruined capital, Port-au-Prince–re-opened two days later as
humanitarian flights began streaming in.
While it is impossible to place a value on the number of lives saved by the timely delivery of critical supplies and medical personnel, the cost of the flight hours of volunteered business aircraft equates to more than $3 million, according to Corporate Aviation Responding in Emergencies (Care), the industry first-response network that arranged for hundreds of flights into and out of Haiti and the neighboring Dominican Republic carrying thousands of passengers and tons of crucial relief supplies. Immediately after the disaster, the group acted as the focal point for the business aviation community’s emergency relief effort. “NBAA has been proud to work with Care and support its outstanding efforts to help coordinate the business aviation community’s response to the Haiti crisis,” said NBAA president Ed Bolen. “The generosity and selflessness of the Care volunteers ensured that medical teams, life-sustaining supplies and other much needed equipment reached children and families in need.”
