Airbus breaks off flight test to deliver emergency aid to Malawi

The Airbus Corporate Foundation has used an Airbus A330 test aircraft to transport 33 tonnes of equipment (some, 3,000 kitchen sets, 9,000 mosquito nets and 4,000 tarpaulins) from Las Palmas, Spain to Lilongwe, Malawi, to provide emergency shelter after the country's worst floods in nearly a quarter of a century left thousands homeless.

The relief mission was organised jointly between the Airbus Foundation and the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC). An Airbus A330 flight test aircraft, collected relief aid in the IFRC’s hub in Las Palmas, Spain and arrived in Lilongwe, Malawi, on Thursday morning.
When Cyclone Bansi hit Malawi in mid-January, floods left hundreds dead, over 120,000 individuals homeless and crops devastated. Malawi was the worst affected of three Southeast African countries hit by heavy rainstorms. The Malawi Government has called for international aid and estimates that the current disaster will be 10 times more expensive for the country as the flooding in March 1991, which was then the country's costliest weather-related disaster.
“Time is of the essence in responding to natural disasters. The sooner we can deliver relief supplies to affected communities, the sooner they can start to recover and regain their dignity,” said Birgitte Olsen, head of global logistics service at the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. “The 33 tonnes of supplies that we delivered with Airbus to Malawi in the wake of recent floods will bring immediate relief to thousands of vulnerable people. We are grateful to Airbus Foundation for their continued support as our partner in humanitarian service.”