IRIN
MYANMAR: Humanitarian air bridge up and running
2 June 2008


BANGKOK, 2 June 2008 (IRIN) - The usually deserted runways and
warehouses of Bangkok's Don Mueang airport have sprung alive as relief
supplies for Myanmar rush in from around the globe.

Food, medicine, shelter equipment - as well as cargo helicopters -
arrive daily at the airport, destined for Myanmar's cyclone-hit regions,
where an estimated 2.4 million people remain homeless and hungry.

Some 134,000 people are either dead or missing after Nargis, a category
four storm, slammed into Myanmar on 2 and 3 May.

"The airport is our air bridge into Burma," Paul Risley a spokesman for
the World Food Programme (WFP), told IRIN in Bangkok. "We have had cargo
flights from around the world going through the airport."

Flights now come in daily from around the world to ferry supplies
through Don Mueang to Yangon, the former Myanmar capital, having been
briefly suspended on 9 May.

Once Thailand's main airport and a major regional hub for Asia, Don
Mueang was replaced by the ultra-modern Suvarnabhumi airport in
September 2006.

At its peak, Don Mueang handled more than 160,000 flights per year, 38
million passengers and 700,000 metric tonnes (MT) of cargo, making it
the world's 18th busiest airport in 2005.

But since Suvarnabhumi opened - aside for a few budget flights, as well
as some cargo and military flights - Don Mueang has been largely empty.

Supply chain

"The facilities are ideal for us. Don Mueang used to be a major
international airport so there is huge surplus space for us," said
Risley.

Within the facility, incoming relief can be stored at the airport's
30,000 sqm warehouse and called in as needed to Yangon.

"This will ensure we don't have a congested airport in Yangon," Matthew
Hollingworth, a WFP logistician and head of the logistics cluster,
explained, citing the importance of Bangkok as the primary staging
ground for getting assistance into the country.

The main logistics hub will be Yangon, but Bangkok will be the staging
area to support it, Hollingworth said. It takes a C-17 helicopter
transport flight less than two hours to reach Yangon.

In addition to a small army of local staff, there are 10 full-time
international staff at the airport loading and unloading relief aid, as
well as coordinating the effort. The aid includes food, water, water
purification systems and basic supplies such as blankets.

With more aid arriving daily, operations at the airport look set to
increase significantly.

Currently, one Ilyushin-76 and one Antonov-12 are serving the air bridge
into Yangon, but the capacity can be increased quickly if required.
Regular flights continue across the air bridge from Bangkok into Yangon
and from other points direct into Myanmar and on 1 June, the Canadian
government flew in four MI-8 helicopters to help in the relief
operation.

Logistical problems

Despite some signs of progress, Myanmar's military-led government
remains reluctant to allow foreign aid workers and foreign aid into
disaster-stricken regions, and still refuses to permit foreign military
helicopters to fly through its airspace.

Sources at the airport confirm that the restrictions have posed serious
logistical problems.

The Australian air force was forced to hire a South African company to
provide two Pumas, a medium-sized twin-engined transport/utility
helicopter, because its equipment was not allowed to fly in Burmese
airspace.

"We could have had this [aid] delivered days ago, but we are having to
work with equipment we are not familiar with," Colonel John Baxter, the
Australian Embassy's Defence Attache, explained. "But we are of course
very happy that this aid will get to the people who need it most . It is
a life or death situation [in Myanmar]," he added.

According to WFP, the helicopters, once operational, will prove key to
getting assistance into the Ayeyarwady Delta, where access remains
particularly poor.

"The helicopters will play a key role in the relief operations," said
Risley. "Many of the hardest-hit areas are almost inaccessible. It can
take three to four days to reach them by boat - a helicopter can do it
in a few hours," he explained.

As part of the overall logistics strategy, aircraft will fly relief
supplies from Don Mueang to Yangon, where they will then be transported
by helicopter, trucks or barges to the disaster areas, to be distributed
by NGOs on the ground. Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) and the
International Federation of the Red Cross and Myanmar Red Cross have
been stationed throughout Myanmar's delta areas to receive aid shipments
from WFP helicopters.

"We rely on the co-operation of NGOs on the ground to hand out the aid -
without them, it would be nearly impossible to distribute," the WFP
official added.

While access has improved, it is still not seen as sufficient. "What is
needed is free and unfettered access and that's not happening," said
Mark Farmaner of The Burma Campaign.


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