Tsunami Disaster- Route Charges For Relief Flights?

[atco-matic]

Hi all. After being moved to tears by the images on the television I just made an online donation to the disaster appeal.

It got me thinking though. Does NATS (or any other ATC provider for that matter) charge for providing ATC services to the flights taking emergency aid from/over the UK? I assume they would go as STATUS: HUM flights? Does it ever charge route charges for these flights? And what about the airports? Do they charge landing fees?

If they do charge, I'm sure I can't be alone in thinking that they ought to waive the fees for such flights. It may only be a small amount in some cases but every little helps.

Christmas seems strangely irrelevant now.

[Minesapint]

I am pretty sure that we don't charge. Either that aor they are charged by Eurocontrol and the operators claim the monety back.

[Satanslittlehelper]

I'd be very interested to know too. I'm sure there must be some very important NATs managers reading the site (spying on us) who might like to enlighten us about our company's involvement. I mean if Linkin Park can make an effort??!!

Are there any airlines volunteering their services at no cost to charity orgs? Is anything being done to help keep thier costs down?

[Boss Raptor]

Wishful thinking - when in years past been involved in the freighter game...I have never known not being charged Overflight Charges on relief flights and in fact have been subjected to all sorts of additional handling/landing charges by some UK airports when they have to stay open just a bit longer etc...and to a certain/major degree it all gets passed onto the charterer

[policepilot]

When we flew humanitarian aid, we got charged just like everyone else. In fact some 3rd countries can only earn foreign currency (US$$$$) this way.
Just ask the guys flying to Maputo when Mozambique was flooded, or some out of the way Congolese airfield.
I pray the aid gets out to all concerned without unnecessary delay.

[Lon More]

A great idea, however Minesapint, it's not Eurocontrol's responsibility; they only collect the charges set by the national administrations. The person to direct the suggestion to is the Minister for Aviation in your own country.

BTW you can contribute directly through PPRuNe using the link at the top of the page

[Minesapint]

And Eurocontrol collect the money as per international agreement to be claimed back by the operators of recognised aid organisations.

[Minesapint]

NATS has donated £50k to the relief fund and waived all route charges. We have also offered ATC support in the affected areas.

[Harrier46]

Surely the price is dictated by the operator or charter broker when the flight is fixed and any subsequent waiving of overflight charges would end up in the wrong pockets. Can't see the operators checking with all the agencies in advance when everything is so urgent and hectic.

[WX Man]

Glad I found this thread.

I am in the process of trying to arrange a DHC8 to go from Ostend to Columbo on behalf of the Rotary club of Helston, Cornwall.

MK Airlines want £64,350 to operate the charter, which includes route charges.

Obviously we wouldn't want to take revenue away from overflight countries such as India, Pakistan, Iran etc... but western European nations..... if they could dig into their pockets!

Does anyone know if STS/HUM will give a refund of route charges through Europe?

[Fried_Chicken]

I am in the process of trying to arrange a DHC8 to go from Ostend to Columbo on behalf of the Rotary club of Helston, Cornwall.

I think a Dc8 might get the aid there a bit quicker?

Several aid agencies have recently chartered IL76 freighters from CIS operators as these work out a bit cheaper then Western operators. The IL76 getting exemption from the noise ban

Fried Chicken

[WX Man]

Ooops, of course I mean a DC8!

[flowman]

I contacted a colleague in the route charges office to try to get the answer to the question about route charges for humanitarian flights.
The bottom line is these flights ARE billed for en-route charges.
It seems, however, that a waiver of such charges can be negotiated with individual states (it appears from earlier posts that this has already happened with NATS in the UK).
Apparently the problem with an automatic waiver of charges is identifying the genuine cases. It's a sad fact that the unscrupulous put in whatever status will give them the desired result. STS/HOSP was used regularly by some operators to avoid slot delays a few summers ago when there was no legitimate justification.
I would imagine it would be easy enough to identify the genuine cases in this instance though, and I cannot believe that any such request would be turned down. I'm not sure how the mechanics of such a request would work, it would be easiest for the operator to make the request, but more credible if the request were to come from the organisations doing the chartering. Somebody needs to point them in the right direction though.
Perhaps a list of appropriate phone numbers or addresses posted here for redistribution by Ppruners to the charities involved would start the ball rolling........

[WX Man]

Thanks for that flowman.

I was working on getting the best price for a charter on behalf of the Rotary club of Helston, Cornwall. Anyway, the price was prohibitive in this case - even if the route charges *were* waived.

Very frustrating actually. You've got 1000 boxes of emergency relief aid (about 58 tonnes) sitting in a warehouse in Corwall, earmarked for airfreight to Columbo. The last I heard was that they managed to get 200 boxes onto a flight for free. Also my contact there was working on getting the RAF to do some of it.

I'd love to get out there and do relief aid flying into bush strips in Indonesia. Have pilot's licence (JAA and FAA CPL/IR, 650h 100ME) will travel...