Pentagon Recruits U.S Airlines To Assist Afghanistan Evacuation Efforts

United Airlines - Boeing 787-10 Dreamliner (N16008) - Daan van der Heijden - AirTeamImages.com 

The U.S. Department of Defense on Sunday (August 22) mobilized the Civil Reserve Air Fleet (CRAF) to assist in repatriation flights of evacuees from Afghanistan.

Delta Air Lines A350-900 & United Airlines Boeing 787-9 -  Rolf Jonsen - AirTeamImages.com 

U.S Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin has activated the Civil Reserve Air Fleet program (CRAF), demanding 18 aircraft: three from American Airlines, Atlas Air, Delta Air Lines, and Omni Air; two from Hawaiian Airlines; and four from United Airlines.

Delta Air Lines (N810NW) flight data:

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Atlas Air (N649GT) flight data: 

The Image Above: RadarBox.com

These flights will be operated from/to foreign airports near the Afghan border, allowing military and non-military aircraft to concentrate their operations in and out of Afghanistan's capital, Kabul.

Other airlines are also operating repatriation flights to Afghanistan's neighboring countries, such as Uzbekistan. The German-based airline Lufthansa has already transported more than 1,500 people on its repatriation flights to Tashkent, Uzbekistan, over the course of a week.

According to John Kirby, Pentagon Press Secretary, these aircraft will not fly into Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul. They will use them to move passengers from central terminals once they leave Kabul, allowing the U.S. military to focus on the Afghanistan portion of the evacuation.

The Department of Defense and the Department of Commerce formally established the CRAF in December 1951. The decision was a direct result of experiences from the Berlin Airlift, in which the need for supplemental airlift was handled by civilian aircraft.