Honolulu, HAWAII — Honolulu media is reporting that two Hawaiian Airlines aircraft were activated by the Defense Department as part of the Civil Reserve Air Fleet to help with evacuations from Kabul airport in Afghanistan.

The two aircraft are among 18 being activated by the Defense Department as part of the Civil Reserve Air Fleet to help with evacuations from Kabul airport in Afghanistan, the Pentagon announced today.

Civil Reserve activation provides the U.S. military “access to commercial air mobility resources to augment our support to the Department of State in the evacuation of U.S. citizens and personnel, Special Immigrant Visa applicants, and other at-risk individuals from Afghanistan,” the Defense Department said in a release.

The Defense Department said it does not anticipate a major impact to commercial flights from this activation.

CRAF activated aircraft will not fly into Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul. They will be used for the onward movement of passengers from temporary safe havens and interim staging bases. Activating CRAF increases passenger movement beyond organic capability and allows military aircraft to focus on operations in and out of in Kabul, according to the Defense Dept. release.

BACKGROUND

CRAF is a National Emergency Preparedness Program designed to augment the Department’s airlift capability and is a core component of USTRANSCOM’s ability to meet national security interests and contingency requirements.  Under CRAF, the commercial carriers retain their Civil Status under FAA regulations while USTRANSCOM exercises mission control via its air component, Air Mobility Command.

This is the third CRAF activation in the history of the program. The first occurred in support of Operations Desert Shield/Storm (Aug. 1990 to May 1991), and the second was for Operation Iraqi Freedom (Feb. 2002 to June 2003). 

The DOD’s ability to project military forces is inextricably linked to commercial industry, which provides critical transportation capacity as well as global networks to meet day-to-day and contingency requirements.  Utilizing commercial partners expands USTRANSCOM’s global reach as well as access to valuable commercial intermodal transportation systems.