Air Partner’s Emergency Planning Division evacuates people in wake of extreme weather conditions

Air Partner - 05 oct. 2017

The Emergency Planning Division (EPD) of Air Partner, the global aviation services group, has been extremely busy in recent weeks, assisting clients affected by the widespread adverse weather conditions.

The division experienced a 200% increase in enquiries during the busy storm season and was placed on standby to move people off the Caribbean islands several times, as businesses sought to ensure the safety of their staff.

In addition, two new clients have signed up for emergency planning services in the past month, due to the security concerns in a number of countries in which they operate. The companies, a leading US financial services company and a US-based security consultancy, have employees based in volatile regions around the world and needed the assurance that they had contingency plans in place to evacuate them to safety if needed.

 

Air Partner is well placed to help both smaller organisations and global corporations. The team understands the duty of care that all employers have towards their employees and can tailor the EPD’s services to meet the needs of any company, irrespective of its size.

Joe Halanen, Emergency Planning Manager at Air Partner, said: “In recent months we have seen a large increase in interest in our emergency air evacuation service. Extreme weather events such as the hurricanes in Texas and the Caribbean, as well as the security situation on the Korean peninsula, have caused many organisations to think about how they would move their people away from danger. We have significant experience of providing safe air evacuations and would like to remind those in hazardous situations just how critical it is to make evacuation plans well in advance of any incident. We cannot stress enough the importance of having a robust process in place that can be implemented at a moment’s notice.”

Air Partner’s Emergency Planning Division provides 24-hour global air evacuation planning and implementation services for any situation a client deems an emergency, whether that be flying people out of a dangerous situation, transporting support teams to the site of a disaster, or the last-minute movement of critical equipment. Services include priority access to the thousands of aircraft on Air Partner’s books, a significant line of credit to enable “go-now” flights, emergency drills, and general aviation consultancy. The company also operates a fully staffed 24-hour flight operations centre year-round (“Ops24”), ensuring clients have instant access to its services, wherever they are in the world and whatever the time.

Air Partner has been operating this pre-planned contingency service for nearly 17 years, supporting industries ranging from energy, construction, banking, insurance, drilling support, mineral extraction and manufacturing to a number of leading charity organisations. In the past, Air Partner has successfully evacuated thousands of people from Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, Iraq, Iran, West Africa, Afghanistan, Indonesia, East Timor, Lebanon and Nepal, among others.