The Future of CRAF Sustainability

The military is working with the Government Services Administration to ensure Civil Reserve Air Fleet carriers retain their incentives to stay a part of the CRAF as demands from Afghanistan continue to decline, US Transportation Command boss Gen. Paul Selva told the Senate Armed Services Committee on Thursday. “In order to do justice for readiness requirements we are going to have to balance how we move the aircraft,” Selva said. CRAF demands are “less than half of what it was a year ago.” Readiness is one part of the fix, but another is making sure CRAF partners get access to government-wide business with other agencies, not just movement supporting the Department of Defense, he added. Thanks to GSA reforms instituted by Congress in 2012, defense transportation rates have been opened up to other government agencies. This adds up to several billion dollars a year in revenue, he said. TRANSCOM is working with the Obama Administration and GSA to get CRAF carriers “access to the business they deserve,” which will help these companies remain healthy as the civilian airline industry heads through what is anticipated to be a period of consolidation in the coming years, Selva said. If CRAF partners cannot remain a viable resource for TRANSCOM in the future, it will make meeting future demands a “much more challenging process.”