Air Transport in Humanitarian Missions
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Mauro Calvano AIR TRANSPORT IN HUMANITARIAN MISSIONS February 2004 1 CONTENTS 1. Executive Summary ...................................................................... 4 2. Objectives............................................................................................... 6 3. Organisations involved in Humanitarian Missions .......................................................................................................... 7 3.1 The United Nations (UN) ................................................................... 7 3.1.1 UN Operational Agencies ................................................................ 8 3.1.2 Peacekeeping..................................................................................... 9 3.1.3 UN Areas of Operation .................................................................. 10 3.2 Other Governmental Organisations involved in Humanitarian missions............................................................................. 11 3.2.1 USAID (USA agency for Humanitarian Mission)...................... 11 3.2.2 International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC)................. 12 3.2.3 European Commission Humanitarian Aid Office (ECHO) ...... 12 3.2.4 Other governmental organisations............................................. 13 3.3 Non-governmental organisations (NGOs)................................. 14 3.3.1 CARE.................................................................................................. 14 3.3.2 CARITAS ........................................................................................... 15 3.3.3 CATHOLIC RELIEF SERVICES ...................................................... 15 3.3.4 MEDAIR............................................................................................. 15 3.3.5 MEDECINS SANS FRONTIERES ................................................... 16 3.3.6 OXFAM International...................................................................... 17 3.3.7 SAVE THE CHILDREN..................................................................... 17 3.3.8 SWISS AGENCY FOR DEVELOPMENT AND COOPERATION... 18 3.3.9 AGA KHAN ........................................................................................ 19 3.3.10 AIR SERV INTERNATIONAL........................................................ 20 3.3.11 INTERNATIONAL RESCUE COMMITTEE................................... 20 3.3.12 WORLD VISION INTERNATIONAL............................................. 21 3.3.13 DERA ............................................................................................... 21 4. Economic Analysis of the Organisations involved in Humanitarian Missions and statistics 22 4.1 Global Humanitarian Assistance Flows 2003........................... 22 4.2 UN Statistics ......................................................................................... 23 4.3 UN Budget ............................................................................................. 24 4.4 WFP Statistics ...................................................................................... 26 4.5 USAID Budget...................................................................................... 27 4.6 Other NGOs Budgets and Statistics ............................................ 27 4.6.1 ICRC Budget .................................................................................... 28 4.6.2 ECHO Budget................................................................................... 28 4.6.3 MEDAIR Budget............................................................................... 29 4.6.4 SAVE THE CHILDREN Budget ...................................................... 29 4.5.5 SDC Budget...................................................................................... 31 4.6.6 AGA KHAN Budget.......................................................................... 31 5. Geopolitical Analysis.................................................................. 32 2 5.1 USAID...................................................................................................... 33 5.2 Millennium Challenge Account (MCA)......................................... 33 5.3 Department of Peace Keeping Operations (DPKO) ............... 34 6. Characteristics of Air Transport in Humanitarian Missions................................................................... 37 6.1 Operational Requirements .............................................................. 37 6.1.1 Range ................................................................................................ 37 6.1.2 Types of delivery ............................................................................ 38 6.1.3 Weather and terrain....................................................................... 39 6.1.4 Airfields ............................................................................................. 40 6.1.5 Aircraft .............................................................................................. 40 6.2 Safety Issues........................................................................................ 41 6.2.1 Safety statistics .............................................................................. 44 6.3 Economic Issues ................................................................................. 46 6.3.1 Contracting the UN......................................................................... 46 6.3.2 Budget constraints and safety..................................................... 47 7. CASE STUDY: Starting An Airline Dedicated To Humanitarian Missions................................................................... 49 7.1 The operational scenario ................................................................. 49 7.1.1 The complex political emergency in Sudan.............................. 50 7.1.2 Background...................................................................................... 52 7.1.3 Sudan Complex Emergency-related data ................................. 54 7.1.4 Peace Talks ...................................................................................... 54 7.1.5 Humanitarian Access ..................................................................... 55 7.1.6 Oil fields in Sudan .......................................................................... 56 7.2 The Aircraft – CASA 212.................................................................. 57 7.3 Aircraft Operations and policy....................................................... 59 7.4 Contracting the UN ............................................................................ 60 7.4.1 Contracts, Pricing and Economic plan ....................................... 60 7.4.2 Economic Plan ................................................................................. 62 8. Conclusions......................................................................................... 63 ANNEX 1........................................................................................................... 67 ANNEX 2........................................................................................................... 93 References.................................................................................................. 95 3 1. Executive Summary The number of humanitarian missions has increased in recent years and research into the present political scene goes some way towards explaining this quantitative change. Attitudes to multilateralism and to aid in post-conflict environments have shifted profoundly in the wake of 9/11. However it is measured, humanitarian aid has been growing in volume and funds made available for humanitarian assistance have more than doubled between 1990 and 2000. The growing trend in the number of humanitarian missions around the world is reflected in the air transport services. Increasingly, many organisations in this sector are demanding air charters. Air transport is crucial to humanitarian missions, promising a fast response and the capacity for contacting remote areas lacking other means of communication. Organisations investing in air charter services for humanitarian missions include the UN and many Non- Governmental Organizations (NGOs). This work focuses on the UN as the leading contractor. The air-transport services purchased every year by the UN from external air operators increased more than 6 times between 1998 and 2002. Special attention is drawn to the peculiar nature of humanitarian and peacekeeping missions which require dedicated aircraft and direct involvement by the operators as far as the relative safety issues are concerned. It is estimated that humanitarian flights are 200 times more exposed to the risk of accident than all other civil aviation operations. Safety is a key issue and the last two years (2002-03) have seen a stronger UN commitment in terms of aviation safety. Unfortunately, the need for more safety and its related higher operating costs clash 4 with tight UN budget constraints. This happens in a very competitive market dominated by Third World and Eastern European operators. Within this scenario of a growing but competitive market, it is possible to present a case study and to develop a business plan for starting up an air operation dedicated to humanitarian missions. Sudan is the operational scenario targeted for the start-up. The UN, together with many NGOs, has been operating in Sudan for a considerable time now. The recent ceasefire signed between the Government of Sudan (Islamic and ruling the northern part of the country)