MEBA2012: Spreading the word over the true cost of caring

First-time exhibitor Care by Air (stand 530) is hoping to make the most of MEBA's platform to interact with business aviation companies and promote humanitarian efforts.
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Care by Air was founded in 2009 to provide ‘at-cost’ transportation and logistics support for humanitarian causes.

The non-profit initiative is led by five aviation and logistics companies – Etihad Airways, Emirates Airline, Maximus Air, Aramex and Abu Dhabi Airports Company – and aims to show just how much the industry can work together, not just in terms of cargo space, but by providing fuel, haulage, warehousing and other costs.

Through its participation at MEBA this week, Care by Air will highlight how the industry can reduce the expense of moving humanitarian aid (80% of the UN humanitarian aid budget is devoted to the cost of logistics) and in turn reduce the levels of suffering in the world by using unused capacity ‘at cost’.

“MEBA has kindly shown its support and enabled us to reach out to a focused arena,” said Lama Awwad, manager corporate social responsibility, Care by Air. “We look forward to educating the business aviation community on what we do and how they can get involved.

Care by Air reflects the values of the UAE as we believe in integrity, compassion and transparency, and our members remain true to this; we look forward to building new relationships and spreading this message at MEBA.” According to the organisation, flights worldwide are 34% empty, resulting in 1.5 million tonnes of empty cargo space. Filling just 0.0003% of that space with rice would provide dinner for five million hungry people. Business aviation, in particular, can also help with medevac operations.

Ali Al Naqbi, founding chairman of the Middle East Business Aviation Association (MEBAA), said: “Organisers of MEBA, F&E Aerospace, recently won the Aviation Safety Promotion Donor Award at the first World Food Programme (WFP) Humanitarian Aviation Awards.

During the event they met the Care by Air team and instantly wanted to support this valuable cause.” He added: “This truly is a great initiative and it is our responsibility to do our part and give back to society.”