The Worldwide Flight Services (WFS) team in Toulouse, France, has provided ground and cargo handling services for a special humanitarian flight organised by the Airbus Foundation to help victims of last month’s devastating explosion in Beirut. 

An Airbus A350-900XWB aircraft carried 10 tonnes of humanitarian aid from Toulouse to the Lebanese capital, which included medicine as well as visors and masks, school items, electrical products and IT equipment for the Saint George Hospital University Medical Center in Beirut, the local association Arc de Ciel and the Lebanese Red Cross. 

The mission was organised by the Foundation and partners Association Les Amis Du Liban-Toulouse, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Toulouse, the Municipal Council of Toulouse, the German Red Cross/Bayer AG and Aviation sans Frontières. 

WFS coordinated the various donations, consolidated the shipments onto aircraft pallets, and arranged the loading and unloading of the A350 in Toulouse and Beirut. 

The WFS team also provided crew assistance and passenger handling for 11 stranded Lebanese engineering students onboard the return flight, who will continue their studies in France. 

“We have 15 years of collaboration with the Airbus Foundation, supporting their wonderful work in support of humanitarian projects around the world. The explosion in Beirut was so devastating and has produced such a long-lasting impact on the city’s residents and businesses, so we are pleased to have been able to play our part in ensuring the safe, secure and fast delivery of supplies and equipment to help them as they continue to recover,” said Anastasia Maciejewski, Toulouse station manager at WFS.