Volga-Dnepr Airlines teams up on charter flight to Moria refugee camp

Volga-Dnepr Airlines has teamed up with Chapman Freeborn Airmarketing to carry out a charter flight to deliver aid to refugees at the Moira camp on the Greek island of Lesbos.

The majority of the camp and neighbouring areas were recently destroyed by a huge fire, which resulted in more than 12,000 refugees left without shelter. 

The charter flight utilised a Volga-Dnepr An-124-100 to transport 55 tonnes of humanitarian cargo from Vienna, Austria to Athens, Greece.

Ekaterina Andreeva, commercial director of Volga-Dnepr Airlines, commented: “It is heartbreaking to see so many people losing their homes, especially families with kids. We feel that it is our duty to help those in need and guarantee at least the provision of daily necessities.

“With aligned procedures in place and well-tuned teamwork, we managed to get flight approvals within three days, and operated the flight without delay, as well as with the fast loading and unloading of cargo”.

Volga-Dnepr has been carrying out humanitarian aid flights — delivering cargo such as food, clothes, vehicles medicines, hospital equipment and water purification equipment — for more than 30 years.

This year Volga-Dnepr Airlines pledged to prioritise humanitarian flights to support the world in its battle against Covid-19. In light of this, the carrier has transported almost 6,000 tonnes of coronavirus-related aid cargo in the first eight months of this year.

“With the peak cargo season getting closer, Volga-Dnepr is ready to support its customers worldwide working under solutions to leverage general cargo, e-commerce shipments, high tech products and vaccine doses,” a spokesperson from the company said.