Following the destruction caused by hurricane Lane in Hawaii last month, Air Charter Service's Texas office was asked to fly in more than 120 tonnes of relief goods as well as a search and rescue team. This came just months after ACS was involved in flights relating to the problems caused by the eruption of the island's Kilauea volcano.
President of ACS Americas Richard Thompson says: “The island was still reeling from the eruption in May when hurricane Lane hit in August. Islanders were facing sinkholes, landslides, loss of electricity and mass displacement, with many people having to leave their homes.
“We were contacted to transport a search and rescue team from the US West coast to Honolulu just before the storm hit, in anticipation of what destruction it may leave behind. We were able to find a Gulfstream IV to fly in the eight-strong group. We then sourced an MD-11 to fly in more than 120 tonnes of relief goods on two separate flights, one directly after the storm and one a couple of days after that. Much of the cargo was for children that had been affected; on board were diapers and baby food, amongst other vital supplies."

This is the second time in the space of just a few months that ACS has had to arrange urgent flights to the island in response to natural disasters. In May it was contacted to urgently fly 68 tonnes of barite fire retardant ore to the island in an attempt to limit the damage when lava from Kilauea reached a geothermal power plant. Now the company has had to deal with hurricane Lane and its aftermath, in which wind speeds reached 160 mph and more than 50 inches of rain fell over the space of four days.

“Hopefully Hawaii can now fully recover from what has been a devastating year for the Big Island,” adds Thompson.