United Nations Humanitarian Air Service
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The United Nations Humanitarian Air Services (UNHAS) are a service operated by the World Food Programme (WFP) to provide United Nations and other humanitarian organizations with safe and reliable air transport during emergencies. The UN General Assembly has assigned WFP to provide all passenger air support service to all UN humanitarian agencies.
In 2004, the service provided air support to 14 different UN operations in 13 countries. It had 102 aircraft on contract. Until February 2006, UNHAS additionally operated a dedicated Ilyushin Il-76 for strategic airlifts from at the UNHRD base in Brindisi, Italy. At the time, that aircraft was the only IL76 accepted into civilian airports in Europe, having been granted an exception to noise regulations.
On 01 November 2006, a new UNHAS service was started in the Central African Republic, under the leadership of then World Food Programme director Jean-Charles Dei and his deputy Dominique Ferretti. The arrival of UNHAS in the country, badly needed amidst a complex humanitarian emergency in a country without any scheduled air services, was also made possible also thanks to the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs and its local head Souleymane Beye, who mobilized funds from the Central Emergency Response Fund to kick off the operation.[1]
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[edit] Statistics
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Year Passengers Cargo (t) Hours 2001 91,500 110,000 53,868 2002 115,709 95,319 55,782 2003 149,854 100,581 68,843 2004 176,189 141,113 64,235 2005 368,215 153,902 89,850
