Whenever possible private charter operators should try and offer relevant empty legs at cost price or much reduced rates to relief organisations faced with trying to help people caught up in disasters such as Haiti and Pakistan. The advice comes from Roland Kalmus, director ground operations and sales for the Switzerland-based Jet-Link AG.

After reading reports about the disaster in Haiti, Kalmus called the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and advised them he had the private owner's permission to make available a Falcon 7X for a humanitarian flight.

Kalmus explains: "We had a commission for a charter from a Caribbean island not far from Haiti. The client needed to be picked up and flown to Zurich. We wanted to help the people of Haiti so we advised the ICRC that we were flying very close to Haiti and could fit in an empty leg from Geneva via Nassau to Haiti.

"Jet-Link took no fee but merely passed on the very much reduced costs of adjusting the empty leg to the relief organisation's requirements."

A little over a day after the earthquake, the aircraft departed Geneva and arrived in Port-au-Prince with seven doctors and four logistical staff and nurses.

Jet-Link's Falcon 7X was one of the first civilian aircraft to land in Haiti on a humanitarian flight. It marked the beginning of what would become a tidal wave of relief flights conducted by private individuals and businesses volunteering money, resources and personnel and made possible by the robust, flexible and adaptable general aviation sector.

Kalmus says: "We didn't seek any publicity for an initiative which enabled the ICRC to act very quickly and cost-effectively but the story got around and many operators in the private charter industry like to help where they can. It seems to me that we should treat empty legs as potential opportunities to help international relief organisations and Pakistan is a case in point."

Founded in 1997 by Hanspeter Candrian Jet-Link Ltd is certified to operate to airports requiring steep approaches, such as London City, and some Swiss airports requiring special certification. During the first two weeks of the crisis flying to Haiti was described as "challenging at best."

Air traffic control services were overloaded and in some cases only capable of dealing with VFR traffic, according to Rich Iudice, director of flight operations at Dassault Falcon. No fuel was available at either Port-au-Prince or Cap Haitien airports.

However at times aircraft had to hold in a circling pattern for up to three hours before being able to land, offload personnel and equipment, quickly board outbound passengers and take off again to make room for inbound aircraft.

Working in close coordination with a humanitarian group called CARE (Corporate Aviation Responding to Emergencies), Dassault Falcon volunteered its Falcon 900 EX EASy demonstrator for relief flights.

The first flight, under the command of Capt Jack Kemper and first officer Tom Willis with flight attendant Sue Taylor, transported two doctors, five nurses, two nurse practitioners and two first responders to Cap Haitien along with significant medical supplies.

A second relief mission was conducted by Dassault Falcon under the command of Capt Kemper and Capt Iudice with cabin attendant Nancy Gravina. This flight carried a team of six doctors and 1,200 lbs of supplies.