PART 3: COORDINATION AND MANAGEMENT OF HUMANITARIAN AIR OPERATIONS DURING LARGE-SCALE EMERGENCIES

3.1. INTRODUCTION

In the first stage of a disaster, airlift may be the only tool of the humanitarian organisations to answer the requirement of speed, flexibility and mobility for providing humanitarian assistance. As a result, the overwhelming flow of transport aircraft often surpasses the handling capacity at the destination airfields and causes bottlenecks. Also, the security environment may dictate the application of specific routing and air traffic control procedures and, as such, impose additional restrictions. Therefore, it is more efficient to combine and consolidate the humanitarian airlift requirements and to coordinate the chartering and management of air assets for common humanitarian use.

As a general rule, in large-scale emergencies with multi-sectoral involvement and intensive humanitarian airlift operations the United Nations Humanitarian Coordinator will assign the United Nations Joint Logistics Centre (UNJLC) to coordinate and prioritise the influx of humanitarian flights. Nevertheless, the air management process involves more than these coordination functions, it also involves chartering, scheduling, detailed planning, flight monitoring, ground handling, etc. The UN High Level Committee on Management agreed in 2003 that the World Food Programme (WFP) would be the lead agency for conducting air operations. WFP established the Humanitarian Air Service (HAS) system to comply with this new role and to provide common air services in case of emergency. Such services may be called UNHAS or WFP HAS depending on the funding arrangements. For simplicity reasons, the term HAS will be used in this document.

For ensuring maximum safety and using the available air assets in the most efficient way, WFP and the Department of Peace Keeping Operations (DPKO) established of the United Nations Aviation Standards (AVSTADS). These are based on the regulations issued by International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), the US Federal Aviation Agency (FAA) and the European Joint Aviation Agency (JAA) and, as such, guarantee the safe and legal employment of humanitarian air assets. WFP’s guidelines for implementation of the HAS Concept are at FOM 6.2.23.

In particular during the early stages of a large scale emergency, the management of air assets will be closely coordinated between UNJLC and HAS; the first, handling the interagency coordination and prioritisation aspects, the second, scheduling, flight planning and execution. The smooth interface between these two bodies should ensure an unprejudiced, smooth and cost-effective use of all available air assets. Paragraph 3.2.2 below describes in detail the interface between UNJLC and HAS at the onset of a large-scale emergency. This interface may vary, according to the type of scenario.

This Part 3 of the FOM considers three generic models, based on different humanitarian air operations which took place during the last decennium. The generic models are:

- Slot Coordination only Bosnia 1991/5, Rwanda 1994 and Kosovo 1999).

- Management of Strategic Airlift (Afghanistan 2001/2, Iraq 2003, Tsunami 2005)

- Management of Regional Airlift during Sudden Onset Disasters ( Mozambique 2000 and 2001, Tsunami 2005 and Pakistan 2006)

UNJLC’s role in these scenarios is described in paragraph 3.4.

3.2. CONTEXT

3.2.1. Regional versus Strategic Air Operations

• Regional Air Operations are air activities within the crisis region, which include operations departing from neighbouring countries that are close to the affected country/area. As a general rule, departure bases for regional air operations should not be further away than 1000 Km from the destination airfields, which is the approximate radius of action of a C 130 with full payload without requirement to refuel in the crisis area. Regional Air Operations may include passenger services and possibly helicopter operations, the latter normally deployed in the crisis area.

• Strategic Air Operations are departing from outside the area that is defined above and will be limited to humanitarian cargo transport. These flights can land at regional hubs or directly at destination airfields within the crisis area as illustrated in the figure above.

3.2.2. UNJLC/WFP HAS Relationship

The UNJLC is an inter-agency body which reports to the Country Team through to the Humanitarian Coordinator (HC). In case of Sudden Onset Disaster, the option may be considered to have the UNJLC directly reporting to the Local Emergency Management Authority (LEMA), such as was the case in Mozambique 2000. Depending on the type of emergency and scenario, the HC, or her/his delegate facilitates interagency bodies which oversee the ongoing operational activities. These Teams/Groups/Committees, as the case may be, will establish and agree on the humanitarian priorities which, during Sudden Onset Disasters, need approval of the LEMA. The UNJLC will take these priorities into account for providing the inputs to schedule the available assets. Such as described below, HAS will handle the technical aspects of the flights.

• In principle, at the onset of a large-scale emergency, the Humanitarian Coordinator will establish a Field Steering Group (FSG) to oversee the UNJLC activities and a Users Group Committee (UGC) to oversee the HAS activities. These Groups will be composed of representatives of Agencies and relevant IOs and NGOs and other beneficiaries. One of the responsibilities of the UGC is to approve the Standard Administrative and Operations Procedures (SAOPs), which lay down the rules and regulations to use the air assets.
• The UNJLC role in passengers air transport will be limited to providing advice to the UGC on the regional needs of humanitarian organisations including routing requirements. UNJLC will endeavour to obtain facilitation measures regarding overflights and landings but HAS will be fully in charge for passengers booking and handling.
• The UNJLC/HAS interface with regard to cargo flights is depicted in the illustration below.

3.3. AIR MANAGEMENT PROCESS

The management process is based on the Guidelines laid down in the SAOPs and consists of four main phases: Planning, Execution, Monitoring and Mission Analysis. In a normal scenario, UNJLC will partially be involved in Planning and Analysis, while Execution and Monitoring will be the responsibility of UNHAS. Abstract from these respective responsibilities, the specific functions in the air management process are as outlined below.

3.3.1. Planning

a. Cycle

The timing and duration of the air cargo and passenger planning process will depend on the nature of the airlift, strategic or regional, the security situation, access to airfields, handling capacity and requirements to co-ordinate with civilian and/or military authorities. In practice, the UNJLC will normally ask users to submit bids at least 3 days and for strategic flights, preferably seven days in advance. This will not only ensure adequate time to coordinate all aspects of the tasking plan and flight schedule (including slots if applicable) but will also ease the task of beneficiaries in preparing documentation and arranging for cargo to be positioned at departure airfields in good time. Specific management cycles are discussed in Paragraph 3.4 which describes the different air management models.

b. Determination of Air Transport Requirements

• Requirements will be determined by the magnitude of the disaster and the speed of the onset.

- In large-scale sudden onset disasters, humanitarian organisations need to react quickly and a large number of assets may be required to assure the influx and distribution of commodities in due time. Typical examples are Kosovo 1999, the Mozambique floods in 2000, the Tsunami end 2004 and the Pakistan earthquake in 2005..

- In slow onset disasters, the humanitarian community has more time for contingency planning and for taking the necessary precautionary actions to pre-position commodities. Consequently, the need for airlift might be less acute, but very often the security situation may be such that air is the only way to gain safe access to critical points in the crisis area.

• The magnitude of an emergency and the associated needs are very often unpredictable. Examples of underestimation of refugees are Rwanda 1994 and Kosovo 1999. Examples of overestimation of refugees are Afghanistan 2001-2002 and Iraq 2003. Therefore, it is extremely difficult in both sudden and slow onset disasters to predict urgent humanitarian needs and associated airlift requirements. As a general rule, even if the humanitarian needs are not clearly defined beforehand, humanitarian cargo airlift will be required during the initial phase of any disaster. The UNJLC, in coordination with UNHAS, should anticipate these needs by preparing a cargo service with a number of aircraft that is limited at the onset but that can be augmented, if required.

c. Acquisition of Assets

• In routine situations, Agencies may have their own system to charter aircraft for complying with urgent needs. Nevertheless, during emergencies it is more cost-efficient to consolidate the requirements and to charter dedicated assets for common use. The UNJLC will endeavour to combine the requirements and recommend dedicated chartering as needed. Since UNJLC has no legal mandate to charter aircraft, this will be done either by WFP Aviation, which manages the HAS. For liability reasons, specifically with regard to passenger transport, UN chartering will be in accordance with the United Nations Common Aviation Safety Standards (AVSTADS). A typical Aircraft Charter Agreement is at FOM 6. 2. 01.
• Military and Civil Defence Assets (MCDA ) should be requested only where there is no comparable civilian alternative and only the use of military assets can meet a critical humanitarian need. The military assets must therefore be unique in capability and availability. The use of these assets should be in accordance with the Guidelines for the use of MCDA which are in FOM 6.4.06 (Natural Disasters) and 6.4.07 (Complex Emergencies). Normally these assets are for common humanitarian use and the UNJLC will play an important role in the requesting and employment process. In particular at the onset of emergencies, UNJLC will compile the needs for MCDA and forward these to the Civil Military coordination Section (CMCS) in OCHA, Geneva . Once deployed, if it concerns cargo aircraft, UNJLC will prioritise their use while HAS will oversee the scheduling and execution. If MCDA are assigned for longer periods, i.e. several weeks, it is recommended to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between WFP and the relevant Government. A model of an MOU for using MCDA is at FOM 6.2.02.

d. Generic Process to select Operations Bases and deploy Assets

• Natural Disasters.

Normally there are no political or security constraints regarding the selection of operations bases in natural disaster scenarios. These operations base(s) should be as close as possible to the crisis area, preferably within the affected country. The latter is to facilitate immigration and customs procedures and to reduce the flight time between the point of entry and the affected area. Major elements will be airfield infrastructure and fuel availability.

• Complex Emergencies.

- During complex emergencies, in particular in the initial stage of the emergency, security problems and logistics bottlenecks will most probably prohibit the selection of operations bases within the affected country. Therefore, for supporting regional cargo and passengers’ services, major airfields in neighbouring countries will be selected as Hubs also called “Forward Mounting Bases”. The normal course of action is that Destination Airfields in the affected area, also called Airheads, become available as soon as external military or peacekeeping forces can guarantee secure air operations.

- For planning purposes, in the initial stage, strategic aircraft will be directed to the Hubs from where the cargo can be dispatched, either by trucks or by tactical transport aircraft into the affected area but, as the situation evolves, strategic aircraft may also be authorised to land directly at the Destination Airfields in the affected area.

• Selection Criteria

Airfields selected as Hubs will have sufficient parking space and should have all ground handling support equipment, including aviation fuel. Destination airfields may be bare airfields without any support or refuelling potential, but permitting landing and unloading of C 130 or AN 12 type of aircraft. Airfield selection should be based on thorough assessments using the formats published in FOM 6.1.2 (short assessment) and FOM 6.1.3 (narrative assessment). The most important selection criteria are in FOM 6.2… (to be published)

e. Establishment of Procedures with Relevant CAAs and/or Military Authorities

• The UNJLC will negotiate procedures and measures to facilitate overflight and landing authorisations, waivers of taxes and customs/immigration modalities with the authorities of the disaster stricken and neighbouring/transit countries. Relevant procedures and document requirements will be published on the UNJLC website www.unjlc.org.
• If possible, agreements will be established with countries involved. Guidelines for making such agreements, which cover more than air facilitation measures, are at FOM 6.3.01. A sample protocol is at FOM 6.3.04. Nevertheless, it may require several weeks to process such agreements and in view of the urgency of air operations, special requests for air facilitation measures may be required. A model for such a request is at FOM 6.3.10.
• In a sudden onset natural disaster scenario, the existing national rules and regulations will apply in the disaster stricken country. However, actions will be taken to accelerate and facilitate the customs and immigration process. The UNJLC will advise the Resident Representative/Coordinator, who is the UN responsible authority in this matter.
• In a complex emergency the crisis often involves a complete disruption of civilian authority resulting from internal or external conflicts. In such a case, the authority may be exercised by external military forces involved in peacekeeping or peace enforcement operations. The UNJLC will establish contacts with these authorities for obtaining the necessary clearances and authorisations to operate and land in the crisis area. Procedures may include formal requests for slot times (see further) and some authorities may require the operators to sign a waiver of liability. A typical format of such a waiver is at FOM 6.2.03.

f. Establishment of Procedures for Requesting and Assigning Air Movements

• If deployed, UNHAS, in coordination with UNJLC, will establish possible as soon as possible for requesting air movements for both passenger and cargo transport by distributing the proper forms to the beneficiaries and/or by publishing these forms on its website. If time permits, these procedures will be incorporated in the SAOP, as soon as available. An example of such SAOP is at FOM 6.2.04. Typical airlift request forms are at FOM 6.2.05 (passenger transport) and FOM 6.2.06 (cargo transport). A special procedure may be required for light cargo on passengers’ aircraft or for passengers which may wish to take excess luggage ( FOM 6.2.07).
• In case of Sudden Onset Disasters, and in the absence of any UNHAS deployment, procedures will be established by UNJLC and published/distributed by any means available.
• In cases where the UNJLC has only a slot coordination and allocation function (see paragraph 3.4.1 below) requests for air movements will be limited to slot request forms. In principle, the UNJLC will develop its own request format, but military authorities may impose their own format such as at FOM 6.2.08.

g. If necessary, establishing Priorities for Passenger and Cargo Schedule

If the demand for passengers and/or cargo transport exceeds the capacity of the available assets and/or the reception capability of the destination airfields, a system will be established to determine the priorities. Such a system will be based on the humanitarian priorities imposed by the relevant humanitarian authority (LEMA, Humanitarian Coordinator, UNCT, etc.). Furthermore, additional guidance may be provided by the Users Group Committee (UGC), if established. Sample TORs of such UGC are at FOM 6.2.09.

h. Scheduling of the Flights

• The drafting of passengers and cargo schedules will be based on humanitarian priorities, available assets and available slot times at the destination airfields. In complex emergencies, the draft schedule will be proposed to the relevant (military) authority. Time schedules and procedures will be established by the latter but UNJLC will be involved in the process of negotiating humanitarian versus military and/or commercial priorities.

After confirmation of the flights, UNJLC will forward the inputs for flight scheduling to the UNHAS and the beneficiary organisations.

3.3.2. Execution

• If deployed, the management and monitoring of the execution process will be done by the UNHAS. This process will include following functions:
• Operational instructions

- In a complex environment, the operational instructions will be issued by the relevant military authorities and may include mandatory entry points/routing, flight levels, radio and IFF procedures, approach and landing procedures, etc. These may be summarised in Special Instructions for Aircrew (SPINS) of which a sample is FOM 6.2.13 .

- In a sudden onset disaster environment with a considerable number of assets operating in a confined airspace, it may be necessary to organise a daily operations briefing before departure. The responsibility of such briefings may be delegated to operators or military actors providing MCDA, but briefings will be overseen by qualified UNHAS or UNJLC staff.

• Tasking instructions

Besides the operational/flying instructions, as outlined above, UNHAS and the relevant Air Operators will coordinate the execution details in accordance with the guidelines established in the SAOPs.

3.3.3. Monitoring

The monitoring process is closely linked to the execution function, but is more a supervision than a support function. It will consist of supervising the proper execution of the flight schedule from pick-up to delivery and ensure implementation of all procedures and priorities. The contracting authority, which is UNHAS in case of commonly chartered assets, is responsible for this function:

- Verifying the cargo readiness state at the airfield of departure. (this function van also be attributed to UNJLC)

- Closely monitoring execution of the flight schedule and co-ordinate any changes that may be necessary;

- Closely monitoring hours flown to ensure that the operator complies with his contractual obligations;

- Ensuring that detailed “Irregularity Reports” are filed whenever an aircraft is unavailable or planned payload cannot be carried for reasons of unserviceability, downtime for maintenance, crew rest or sickness, cargo/passenger problems, ATC restrictions or adverse weather;

- Ensuring that incident reports are filed in case of incidents endangering flight safety (Sample at FOM 6.2.17).

3.3.4. Reporting, Mission Analysis and Statistics

a. Reporting is very important, not only to compile statistical evidence for making an assessment of the efficiency and the cost-effectiveness of the operation but also to allow the system to improve its concept and procedures. Nevertheless, the reporting system should be simple and transparent, i.e. it should not be too time consuming and not become the predominant activity over the planning and monitoring of the ongoing operations. Mission report procedures will be specified in the SAOPs or in the Special Instructions for Aircrew (SPINS). The reporting concept will vary with the type of emergency, but, in general terms, the following will apply:

• Mission Reports (UN Flights Only). Aircrews of UNHAS chartered aircraft will be required to make a Mission Report of each flight. A typical format is at FOM 6.2.18 . The Mission Report will include passengers and/or cargo manifests and be sent to UNHAS.
• Activity Report. UNHAS will compile its own mission reports and make a weekly summary of all flights. UNJLC will endeavour to compile data of all humanitarian flight and make a summary of all humanitarian air activities.

b. Mission Analysis consists of analysing activity reports and identifying shortcomings to the officers in charge of planning and execution. In addition, UNJLC will seek to obtain feedback from Agencies on the ongoing services and compile all findings in a weekly activity report (Sample at FOM 6.2.19). These reports will be the most important tool to take corrective actions at planning and execution level. If necessary, recommendations will be made to the SAOP. In addition, if applicable, important shortcomings will be discussed with UNHAS, reported to the Head UNJLC and, if necessary to the UGC.

c. Statistics. The above reports will form the basis for producing statistics on the air operation. Statistics will reflect:

• Passenger Service (UNHAS). Per aircraft type and destination, number of passengers transported, including sponsoring agencies and or other beneficiaries. If necessary, include a list of no-shows, identifying sponsoring agencies and recommend actions and/or penalties.
• Cargo Service (UNHAS/UNJLC). Per aircraft type and destination, amount and nature of cargo, identifying consignees. Nature of cargo will include Food Items, Nutrition Items, Non Food Items and Medical Items.
• Fuel Uplift (UNHAS). If required, compile accurate statistics on fuel uplifts, specifying fuel used by each aircraft. Forward all details to the chartering Agency for subsequent invoicing.
• Statistics (UNHAS/UNJLC). Preserve all necessary data for compiling a detailed report with detailed statistics at the end of the air operation.