How aviation emergency services support hurricane season relief operations

Hurricane season officially begins on June 1st, and the most active period in the Americas is fast approaching. At the time of writing, Colorado State’s hurricane forecasting team expects there to be 9 hurricanes, including 4 major hurricanes, this season. This would mean a similar season to 2024, which was the 3rd most costly hurricane season on record and featured 2 category 5 hurricanes. Aviation services play a vital role in the immediate response to natural disasters like hurricanes, from delivering essential supplies to ensuring emergency specialists can access the areas where they are needed most.

The global air charter specialist Chapman Freeborn is a leading provider of emergency and humanitarian aviation services. Part of Avia Solutions Group, the company has a recently formed division, Aviation Emergency Service (AES), which is dedicated to this area of work. With five decades of operational experience - including missions during Hurricanes Katrina, Milton, Dorian, Maria, and Helene - Jack Burt, Chapman Freeborn’s Senior Vice President of Cargo for the Americas, discusses how the aviation industry prepares for hurricane emergencies.

Delivering vital equipment and supplies after a hurricane hits

Hurricanes cause many dangers. Severe high winds, storm surges, and flooding can all lead to substantial damage to critical infrastructure, resulting in further risks. Every year, aviation services play a key role in managing these disasters by rapidly transporting critical equipment and supplies.

"In response to hurricanes, we are typically required to transport power generation equipment, along with supplies like water, MRE ("Meals Ready-to-Eat") and foodstuffs. Naturally, medical supplies such as mobile hospitals, equipment, medicines, and vaccines are also needed," comments Burt.

Chapman Freeborn ready to respond fast

As the 2025 hurricane season approaches, Burt has a clear message to the company's clients and partners - don’t panic.

“While every natural disaster is unique, preparedness goes a long way. We have over 50 years’ experience, and an unrivaled global network of airlines and partners. Chapman Freeborn is mission ready and capable of responding to the most difficult logistical challenges. We can mobilize an aircraft and crew within just a few hours to respond to emergency situations. In extreme circumstances, our response time can be 60 minutes or less," says Burt.

In preparation for the Atlantic hurricane season, Chapman Freeborn has been working hard to maintain its readiness and ensure that when it does spring into action, airlifts are carried out safely and successfully.

"In terms of our operations and team, we conduct thorough business continuity planning and staff planning. We ensure the physical preparedness of offices and have evacuation contingencies in place as well," comments Burt.

"Our Cargo team is prepared with rapid response cargo transportation solutions in the Americas," Burt continues. "This means having aircraft, trucks, ground handling agents (GHAs) and logistics service providers (LSPs) based in the region and ready to respond to any hurricane threat."

As a charter broker, Chapman Freeborn has long-standing relationships with partners around the world, enabling the quick deployment of any size aircraft, anytime, anywhere. "We work continuously to maintain our extensive network of airlines, suppliers and partners, who are all ready to mobilize during hurricane season," adds Burt. "We also conduct ongoing preparedness discussions to ensure the right logistics are in place at any given moment."

"The final element of our preparation is the team's mental resilience and focus," explains Burt. "Hurricane season is an unpredictable and stressful time. We conduct regular training exercises to support the team. Furthermore, having deep know-how and an experienced leadership team helps us remain confident and calm under pressure."

A coordinated response to deliver essential relief

When Chapman Freeborn is called into action after a hurricane, close coordination with governments, NGOs and private sector partners is essential. "Urgent humanitarian relief flights before or after a large hurricane require extensive collaboration. This is normally led by our staff, which ensures there is connectivity and transparency between the key parties in the humanitarian supply chain. These include airlines, airport authorities, civil aviation authorities, NGOs, ground handling agents, trucking agents, logistics partners, shippers and consignees," explains Burt.

"For example, last year our Passenger (PAX) team we flew over 70 electricians, plus equipment such as power tools and lithium batteries, to the Tampa Bay area, where 3.4 million homes and businesses were without electricity after Hurricane Milton. We coordinated with the carrier, the client, three different airports, and even a local family-run restaurant, to ensure these professionals arrived safe and well where they needed to be," explains Burt.

"This case highlights some of the specific logistical challenges of hurricane relief airlifts," he continues. "You may be one of the first flights into a destination recently impacted by a storm. Airport conditions may be poor or unknown, and communication channels are often slow or non-existent. Naturally, this creates difficulties in planning a charter flight. In the case of our Hurricane Milton operation, we worked with three different airports right up until the morning of departure, when we confirmed which one would be safest to use. This enabled us to continuously monitor forecasts, create multiple contingency plans, and make rapid decisions in response to the constantly changing conditions."

Rapidly delivering cargo to challenging locations

"Another challenge of hurricane relief flights is that you may be required to deliver large volumes of cargo to remote or hard-to-access locations, such as small Caribbean or Hawaiian Islands," explains Burt. "In 2017, our Cargo team operated hundreds of charter flights to Puerto Rico following Hurricane Maria. We transported critical supplies and infrastructure equipment to assist in the island's rebuild."

Chapman Freeborn's global disaster relief work has seen it fly passenger and cargo charters to remote and challenging locations including Pakistan, Haiti, Nepal, Yemen, Darfur, South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo. In other words, location is not an issue for the AES team. "We have the planning and logistics in place, and our global network of partners means we can rapidly respond to hurricanes wherever they make landfall," explains Burt.