Manufacturing Industry

Airlines offer help to tsunami victims

Airline Industry Information, Dec 29, 2004

Cathay Pacific Airways has offered assistance to those affected by the earthquake and tsunami in Indonesia and southern Asia by raising money through donations and carrying supplies and aid personnel to affected areas.

The airline also said that between now and the end of March 2005, all donations collected in-flight for the United Nations' UNICEF "Change for Good" programme will support disaster relief efforts while a collection has also been started among Cathay Pacific staff worldwide and the proceeds will go to the Red Cross.

Cathay Pacific also said that the airline has agreed to help governments and charities ferry supplies to stricken areas, including two sniffer dogs and their handlers, offered by the French government, already on their way from Paris to Colombo to help with search and rescue operations in Sri Lanka.

For those already at or booked to fly to the affected areas, special ticketing arrangements have been made to allow them to change the flight schedule or obtain a ticket refund without charge. Cathay Pacific said that the arrangement applies to Cathay Pacific services to Colombo, Surabaya and Penang and to passengers whose final destination was Madras, Maldives, Phuket or Langkawi.

Separately SAS, the Scandinavian airline, has allocated 15 aircraft to bring Scandinavians on holiday home.

Recent reports have reportedly found that most of the Europeans missing after the tsunami in southern Asia are Swedes and Norwegians, reported the Swedish news service TT. There are about 3,500 foreigners unaccounted for, and it has been estimated that about 1,500 are from Sweden, 440 from Norway and 200 from Finland. In additions to the missing Scandinavians, the authorities had reportedly also lost track of over 200 Czechs, 188 Israelis, 100 Germans and 100 Italians holidaying in the region.

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