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Two Hawaiian Airlines aircraft are among 18 activated by the Defense Department as part of the Civil Reserve Air Fleet to help with evacuations from the international airport in Kabul, Afghanistan, the Pentagon announced Sunday.
Jon Snook, executive vice president and chief operating officer at Hawaiian Airlines, said in an emailed statement Sunday, “We are proud to join the U.S. Department of Defense and our
fellow air carriers in the humanitarian effort to bring to the United States our citizens and the Afghans who supported them. In the last few days, we have seen
harrowing images from Kabul of those trying to flee, and we are ready to do our part.”
Start dates for the mission, which will utilize Hawaiian’s 278-seat Airbus A330 aircraft, are still being finalized.
“Our crews and two of
our widebody aircraft will deploy to temporary safe
havens and interim staging bases to assist with the evacuation,” Snook said. “We will not fly to Afghanistan, but will assist the outflow of evacuees to the United States from safe airports
in the region so that mili-
tary aircraft can focus on
operations in and out of
Kabul. I send my gratitude
to our teams and crew who are organizing and fulfilling this important mission.”
Civil Reserve activation provides the U.S. military “access to commercial air mobility resources to augment our support to the
Department of State in the evacuation of U.S. citizens and personnel, Special
Immigrant Visa applicants, and other at-risk individuals from Afghanistan,” the Defense Department said in a release.
Three aircraft each from American Airlines, Atlas Air, Delta Air Lines and Omni Air; two from Hawaiian Airlines; and four from United Airlines were were tapped after Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin ordered the commander of U.S. Transportation Command to activate “Stage I” of the Civil Reserve Air Fleet, a national emergency preparedness program.
The Department of Defense said that the civil aircraft activation “increases passenger movement beyond organic capability and allows military aircraft to focus on operations in and out of in Kabul.”
Tens of thousands of people are hoping to join the
airlift, which has been slowed by security issues.
President Joe Biden said Sunday during White House remarks that discussions are underway among military officials about potentially extending the airlift beyond an Aug. 31 deadline.
Hawaii-based Air Force C-17 cargo carriers and
KC-135 refueling tankers also could be called upon to help Americans and Afghan citizens evacuate from the overwhelmed Kabul airport following the country’s rapid fall to the Taliban.
The Hawaii-based military aircraft regularly fly missions all over the world. In late 2017 three Hawaii Air Guard KC-135 tankers and crews with the 203rd Air Refueling Squadron returned from six months of Middle East duty refueling U.S. and other coalition aircraft striking ISIS targets in Iraq and Syria.
Biden said U.S.-led evacuation of Americans, at-risk Afghans and others from the Kabul airport accelerated this weekend, although it remains vulnerable to threats posed by the Islamic State extremist group.
Biden noted that the
terror group is a “sworn
enemy of the Taliban” and said that the longer U.S. troops are on the ground, the chance increases that the group will attempt to strike innocent civilians and American personnel near Hamid Karzai International Airport.
Sunday’s activation of the Civil Reserve Air Fleet is only the third in the program’s history, which underscores the current situation’s seriousness. The first CRAF activation occurred in support of Operations Desert Shield/Storm in 1990-91, while the second was for Operation Iraqi Freedom in the 2002-03 time frame.
The Defense Department said it does not anticipate a major impact to commercial flights from this activation.
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The Associated Press
contributed to this story.
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