"US drafts commercial airlines to support Afghan evacuation"
 

From the BBC :

Afghanistan: US drafts commercial airlines to support Afghan evacuation - BBC News

It seems that they aren't running commercial operators from Afghanistan, but from nearby points such as the Gulf, on transfer from the USAF. Which one would have thought was going on all along. Not apparent what, after a week or two, has changed.

Given there was talk/report yesterday that the likes of Qatar briefly stopped accepting inbound refugees due to a lack of capacity maybe there’s now a need to get those evacuated out of the region ASAP.

This happens every day of the week, airlines like Omni Air survive on DOD work. A search of flights with a CMB ICAO designator or CAMBER callsign will show you the sort of places they fly to.

Arent the commercial airlines not part of the U.S. defence system ? It gives them some protection, I believe some airlines would not have survived without this umbrella.

I’m sure there’s plenty of ongoing DOD work done but I guess notable/newsworthy aspect of this is that it appears it is only the third time in it’s history that CRAF as an entity has been activated.

Ties in with my recollection of aviating in the run up to both Gulf Wars (I think it was ) when it seemed half the civilian registered N reg traffic, especially 747s, over Europe were heading to and from the Gulf using call signs that weren’t ones you would normally associate with the livery…an operation on that scale certainly wasn’t something that happened everyday…

thats a fair point, I am surprised they felt it necessary to activate CRAF for 18 aircraft when the airlines would likely have provided them in the normal commercial way. I wonder if it’s a White House media thing, CRAF1 and 2 were on an entirely different scale.

I'd guess this is more of a bureaucratic thing. It eliminates a lot of red tape and the need to negotiate terms.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/...lines-pentagon

It lists the carriers " The administration asked for three planes each from American Airlines, Atlas Air, Delta Air Lines and Omni Air; two from Hawaiian Airlines; and four from United Airlines."

Won't insurance come into the equation somewhere? CRAF probably provides cover that normally isn't available for commercial airlines (although if they're not going to fly into Kabul.....?)

CRAF activation is different to day-to-day contracted flying for the military under a Camber (or previously Reach) call sign.

Does anyone know if CRAF operation is still civilian / ICAO rules operation or is that deemed "state aircraft operation"? From legal (and particularly insurance) viewpoint there might be a big difference.
(Been deeply involved in that mess few years ago, so I am curious.)

it is under applicable FAA rules and they cannot be tasked flying into an active war/combat zone ie Kabul or Kandahar. Something like Alamaty, Tashkent, Qatar, Kuwait, Islamabad etc only. Dunno about insurance.