Air Partner Evacuates Over 200 from Caribbean Pre-Irma

Air Partner - 20 Sep 2017

Private Air Company Notes Uptick in Evacuation Requests During Busy Storm Season and Stresses Important 72-Hour Rule

Air Partner, a market leader in private aviation with a special focus on disaster recovery and emergency planning, successfully evacuated over 200 people from the Caribbean during Hurricane Irma. Today, the company confirmed it is seeing an uptake in calls to its Emergency and Disaster Planning Division in the midst of a busy storm season, and issued a reminder of the importance of advance preparedness with new storms on the horizon.

"We are pleased that we were able to air lift so many people to safety before Hurricane Irma made landfall, with many companies heeding our advice to plan ahead," said David McCown, president of Air Partner U.S. "We are in the midst of one of the most active hurricane seasons to date and as we find ourselves in the midst of Irma recovery, hoping Maria’s impact is minimal, we unfortunately don’t see it slowing down much."

Air Partner’s Hurricane Evacuation Program, which is part of its Emergency and Emergency Planning Division, offers pre-planning and rapid response evacuation services to companies, government organizations and individuals. Evacuations are carried out based on the pre-planning component, with preferred aircraft access and transfers to pre-selected destinations.

"We cannot stress enough the importance of developing an evacuation plan at least 72 hours before a storm is in the area. Within this timeframe, we are able to avoid weather restrictions, airplane availability and airport closures, ensuring a smooth process," said McCown. "Air Partner remains committed to providing safe options for travel. We want to remind those in the path of these storms how critical it is to enact their evacuation plans early – before conditions worsen and we are unable to get them out."

Air Partner’s team remains on call 24/7 as it manages ongoing evacuation requests from residents of the Caribbean, as well as travellers to the battered region. For more information, visit Air Partner's Emergency Planning Division online or call 954-359-4300.