Delta Air Lines Inc. is helping ameliorate two acute humanitarian crises on different sides of the world that have transfixed Americans in recent weeks.
On Monday, just over a week after a 7.2-magnitude quake killed more than 2,000 people in the Haiti, the Atlanta-based carrier said it would donate $100,000 to the American Red Cross to support relief efforts.
Delta was also one of six private airlines drafted by the U.S. government to send three aircraft to transport evacuees spirited out of Afghanistan after the Taliban takeover.
The Biden administration invoked the Civil Reserve Air Fleet, an emergency measure only used two other times, to compel the use of civilian aircraft for military purposes. Delta said Wednesday afternoon it would operate more than two dozen of the flights and that flight attendants and pilots were already volunteering to staff them.
Delta, which regularly moves U.S. troops through its commercial and charter services, said it would not fly directly into Afghanistan but would pick up some of 82,000-plus evacuees that have already been transported to air bases in Qatar, Germany and Kuwait or other friendly countries by the U.S. and allied forces.
The Department of Defense said this capacity enables military aircraft to focus on operations in and out of Kabul.
