March Madness/Grace Under Pressure

Air transportation requirements within US Central Command’s 27-nation area of responsibility reached an all-time high in March, but air mobility airmen responded by setting new one-month records for passengers and cargo moved, all while maintaining a 91 percent on-time delivery rate. Airmen moved nearly 120,000 passengers and 41,350,000 tons of cargo around the Middle East, Near East, and Horn of Africa, eclipsing the previous marks by 3 percent and 7 percent, respectively. “Maintaining effectiveness under these conditions is a significant accomplishment by our airmen,” said Lt. Col. Brian Robinson, the Air Mobility Division director at the Combined Air and Space Operations Center in Southwest Asia. He credited not only the deployed airmen flying and maintaining the transport aircraft, but also the air mobility planners and schedulers. Commercial air transportation companies carried 27 percent of the record cargo haul. (AFCENT report by SSgt. Shawn J. Jones)