Boeing and Uzbekistan Airways, in coordination with the charity Project HOPE, last week delivered nearly 7,000 lbs of medical supplies from Seattle to Tashkent aboard a newly delivered Uzbekistan Airways 767-300ER. A similar delivery of over two tons of school books was made on an earlier Uzbekistan Airways delivery in February.
Movements of such critical supplies are becoming commonplace whenever Boeing delivers a new airliner to a customer from the developing world. Rather than flying an empty plane to its new home, the customer will load at least a couple of tons of relief materials into the plane’s cargo hold, usually supplied by a third-party charity organization with support and coordination from Boeing’s Humanitarian Delivery Flights program.
“Boeing, through its Global Corporate Citizenship organization, supports relief efforts around the world in partnership with nongovernmental agencies and nonprofits like Project Hope. Through these collaborative efforts and with our airline partners, we bring relief and hope to people in need,” said Liz Warman, Boeing’s Global Corporate Citizenship Northwest director, in a statement.
Previous customers who have transported medicines, books and other supplies during delivery flights have included:
- Ethiopian Airlines, which through the generosity of Seattle Anesthesia Outreach, delivered six-tons of anesthesia machines, monitors and books to a hospital in Addis Ababa during delivery of a new Boeing 777-200LR.
- RwandAir, which delivered about a ton of books from Rwanda Girls Initiative during the delivery of its first 737-800.
- Emirates, which delivered about 12 tons of various supplies to the displaced residents of Pakistan’s war-torn Swat Valley.
