The U.S. orders six commercial airlines to help transport Afghan evacuees.

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: New York Times

Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III has ordered six commercial airlines to provide passenger jets to help with the growing U.S. military operation evacuating Americans and Afghan allies from Kabul, the Afghan capital, the Pentagon said on Sunday. Mr. Austin activated Stage 1 of the Civil Reserve Air Fleet, created in 1952 after the Berlin airlift, to provide 18 airliners to help ferry passengers arriving at bases in the Middle East from Afghanistan, John F. Kirby, the Pentagon spokesman, said in a statement.

The current activation is for 18 planes: four from United Airlines; three each from American Airlines, Atlas Air, Delta Air Lines and Omni Air; and two from Hawaiian Airlines. The Pentagon does not anticipate a major impact to commercial flights, Mr. Kirby said.Civilian planes would not fly into or out of Kabul, where a rapidly deteriorating security situation has hampered evacuation flights.

Instead, commercial airline pilots and crews would help transport thousands of Afghans who are arriving at U.S. bases in Bahrain, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. The commercial airlines would ease the burden on those bases, which are filling up rapidly as the Biden administration rushes to increase the number of flights for thousands of Afghans fearing reprisals from Taliban fighters.

From the bases in the Middle East, the airliners would augment military flights carrying Afghans to Germany, Italy, Spain and other stops in Europe, and then ultimately to the United States for many of the Afghans, officials said. This is just the third time that the reserve air fleet has been activated. The first was during the Persian Gulf war (from August 1990 to May 1991). The second was during the Iraq war (from February 2002 to June 2003).

Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/22/world/afghan-refugees-commercial-airlines.html

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Using past precedent.

[Bayard]

1. Excellent!

[agingdem]

2. stand by...GOP collective head explosion...

I can hear it now..."them planes are American planes..don't want no USA planes flyin' them foreign brown people to my airport!!"

[bottomofthehill]

3. Republican logic

Then, Muslim ban
Later, you have abandoned our Muslim allies
Now, don’t let those Muslims in.

I just don’t get it.

[agingdem]

4. what's to get..

they're foreign and brown..."OMG..they look like hispanics!....why ain't that damn wall workin' to keep their kind out of my Amurica, goddamnit?!!"

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

14. Not really that brown

It's just that they're not xtian.

[BumRushDaShow]

5. It's easy to decipher

Whatever Democrats do, they MUST MUST MUST do "the opposite". Literally. It's very consistent.

The cognitive dissonance is that extreme and only underscores how they operate strictly on "appearances" and reject any meaningful "substance" whatsoever.

[PatSeg]

6. Sadly, so true

We've seen it so often in recent years that it has become absurd, yet the republican base just doesn't see it. All they see is "Democrats bad, republicans good". It's not about issues or policies, it is about ongoing tribal warfare.

[IronLionZion]

7. I bet these passengers will be better behaved

than some of the entitled assholes in the media lately for assaulting flight attendants and yelling at people.

[LittleGirl]

10. Right? Those videos are disgusting. nt

[calimary]

8. Excellent.

This is NOT like the disaster at the end of the Vietnam War.

[FailureToCommunicate]

9. And, I'm guessing passenger airplanes are safer, since there are, you know, seats...

[KentuckyWoman]

11. I doubt Sec. Austin "ordered" the airlines to do anything.

A few calls, everyone understands what is needed. Get it coordinated .... but "ordered"? I expect better from the NYT.

[PSPS]

12. I presume they mean "ordered" as in "I ordered a steak." Essentially, chartering the flight.

However, there are statutes that allow the president to compel airlines to do this. But I'm sure any airline would be anxious to help anyway. This is a really excellent example of having rational and honest adults in charge again.

[IronLionZion]

13. Probably requested

the airlines would be paid for it. Commercial airlines are requested to transport soldiers and embassy staff and civilians all the time.

[marie999]

15. In the 60s I would fly commercial to Europe,

but I would return on planes chartered by the military. Flying commercial is better because you can drink on the plane, but we couldn't drink on charter flights.

[jmowreader]

16. Atlas is not a surprising choice

They already have contracts with the military, and they fly 747s.

[Bengus81]

17. What was Trumps plan,take em out in his 757--the one with only one engine?

Of course just like with healthcare you'll NEVER see Trumps plan to exit Afghanistan. It was nothing more than BS during an election year.

[yaesu]

18. the least they can do for the billions we spent bailing them out nt

[BumRushDaShow]

19. I'm sure they are not doing it for free

They will most likely get reimbursed at some GSA fixed-rate cost (based on geographic location of the flights, mileage, fuel/personnel costs, and whatever extra might be tacked onto that based on the hazards).

[Mawspam2]

20. Look up Civil Reserve Air Fleet

The carriers are already under contract. Most of the time, they get money for nothing. Time to pony up American, Delta, United, Atlas, Hawaiian.

I really don't get 3 planes from Omni Air (they only have 14 total)