LAN Cargo transported more than 121 tons of humanitarian aid to northern Chile after an unusually strong frontal system hit the area in late March, causing floods and landslides, turning the lives of hundreds of people upside-down. The carrier immediately activated its “Solidarity Plane,” an aircraft with space reserved under a social responsibility initiative that allocates free cargo capacity to transport humanitarian aid to areas affected by an emergency.
Several NGOs contacted LAN Cargo to start transporting humanitarian aid, with Desafío Levantamos Chile and Twitteros Solidarios among the most relevant. The first freighter took off on March 27 from Santiago, bound for Copiapó, transporting several tons in aid.
Apart from transporting relief supplies, the carrier’s staff organized an initiative to bring some smiles to the children in the Chilean north by organizing a campaign to collect Easter eggs, which were later delivered to 300 kids who live in the children’s homes of Fundación Mi Casa. In two days, the staff managed to collect 5,000 Easter eggs, which were transported in the Solidarity Plane and arrived just in time for the Easter celebration.