Air Serv (Uganda) (Entebbe) has announced that it has expanded operations in eastern Africa with the deployment of two Cessna (single turboprop) 208B Caravans, one to Juba, capital of South Sudan, and one to the region of Darfur in western Sudan, it said in a statement on its website.
They will be the second and third Air Serv aircraft to be based in the area, joining one already based in Wau, northwestern South Sudan, since earlier this year.
With a fleet of five Cessna Caravans, Air Serv specialises in “last mile” air transportation in support of humanitarian programmes. In addition to charter, facilities, maintenance, and consulting services, it provides response capabilities for organisations operating in disaster areas.
Sudan and South Sudan have experienced political and economic instability, violence, drought, famine, and tribal warfare over the last two decades, resulting in a population of over five million refugees and internally displaced people.
Air Serv said that the Darfur-based aircraft would support programmes by providing shelter, food, and medical services to these communities.
In a separate mission, the Juba-based aircraft will support medical response initiatives. As one of only two aircraft there dedicated to this mission, and the only fixed-wing aircraft, the Caravan will be positioned to respond if the Ebola outbreak spreads beyond the Democratic Republic of the Congo (and, briefly in June, neighbouring Uganda). Air Serv said that it was working with the World Health Organization to this end.
