DAC Aviation International has taken delivery of a new Cessna Grand Caravan EX; the first of six it will receive over the next six months.

Headquartered in Montreal, Canada, DAC's primary base of operations is at Wilson airport in Nairobi, Kenya. It has secondary bases in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Somalia, Sudan and South Sudan.

The Wilson airport facility offers MRO services and is home to DAC's current fleet, which includes Bombardier Dash-8s, a CRJ 200 LR and Cessna Grand Caravans. The new Grand Caravan EX will be repositioned to Nairobi within the month, and when all six have arrived the operator will be flying 21 aircraft to provide safe and reliable passenger and cargo services to international relief and aid agencies across the region.

In the early 1990s, DAC founder and chairman Emmanuel Anassis was a bush pilot in Africa. Starting with one DHC-5 Buffalo, Anassis founded DAC and began to offer a solution to this critical need. The company's first client was the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), and over the years, DAC has served numerous relief and aid agencies.

“Over 20 years of continuous operations, DAC has increasingly focused its efforts on providing safe and reliable air transportation for relief and aid agencies that need to move their people and vital cargo in and out of remote and challenging environments,” says Anassis.

“Our success depends on our highly-trained and experienced pilots, support crews and, of course, the right aircraft. The Grand Caravan EX provides excellent operational flexibility, an additional margin of safety thanks to a more powerful engine, latest generation avionics and Cessna support.

“Specifically configured for DAC, this EX can comfortably move its two-person crew, 10 passengers and cargo. These are important missions. The welfare of many people depends on our clients' work. Our job is to get them where they need to go safely and reliably. We go where few others dare,” he says.