AYR marks 20th anniversary with new humanitarian plan

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AYR Logistics is making a donation-in-kind to UK charity, HumanitAid for its 20th anniversary. The donation will be made in the form of logistics management services, helicopter hours and transportation worth about $5m (£3.6m) over three years.

This will be used for humanitarian support to new and existing initiatives to cover medical and emergency relief missions.

Serge Sergeef, founder and CEO of AYR said: “Now is not the time to be throwing a big party when there is so much in the world that needs to be done due to the Coronavirus pandemic, the worsening impact of climate change on so many countries and conflicts that still blight the lives of millions of people around the world.”

James Dubois, chairman of HumanitAid said: “AYR has an excellent reputation for safe and efficient operations.”

Both AYR and HumanitAid are keen to play a key role in the vaccine rollout, particularly in Low and Lower Middle-Income Countries in Africa, where there is the challenge of large populations and weak transportation.

Sergeef said: “The potential for variants from a largely unvaccinated continent, with poor medical facilities, such as Africa, doesn’t bear thinking about. We have to act and the time to act is now.”

Stephen Lyons, chief development officer, AYR, told Helicopter Investor: “Out of the fleet of seven helicopters, we will probably commit two to these missions. We are also in the process of fundraising to expand the fleet.”

AYR mainly operates Russian-made Mil Mi-8s, which Lyons said have been extremely effective fighting fires in Turkey recently.

The company said it has provided logistics to fight the  Ebola crisis in Liberia. It has also provided food and emergency relief following flooding, earthquakes and other natural disasters in Haiti, Kenya, Mozambique, Myanmar, Nepal and Pakistan.

“AYR has the logistics network, personnel, facilities and strategic hubs to develop and control the entire supply chain.” said Sir Mark Lyall Grant, a former British ambassador and permanent representative to the UN and a trustee of HumanitAid.

HumanitAid is also seeking matching donations from governments, non-government organisation (NGOs), corporate social responsibility (CSR) programmes and charitable foundations.

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