Chad
Chad is a large country, three times the size of France, with extremely poor roads and infrastructure. Increasing insecurity resulting from border conflicts and from acts of banditry has reached a level in which relief workers in the region can no longer travel safely by road to reach their areas of operations. In addition, Chad has a shortage of adequate commercial airlines and other air services.
WFP air service was launched in 2004, to provide emergency relief in the Darfur Conflict. Since then, WFP air service has been crucial to the provision of an effective humanitarian response in Chad, notably towards Sudanese refugees in the eastern region.
In 2007, a Special Operation (SO) was initiated to provide air transport service for ongoing WFP emergency operations as well as over 100 UN entities and NGOs. It transports about 4,500 passengers per month to about 13 destinations in Chad, also providing air service for medical and security evacuation services and for distribution of non-food relief cargo. An agreement with UNHCR, signed December 2006, designated WFP to be solely responsible for all flights from N’djamena since January 2007.
The Chad operations are fully funded by donors.
