Republic Airways Holdings today announced the completion of the successful operation to rescue 53 orphaned children imperiled by the devastating earthquake that struck Haiti. Republic Airways provided the Embraer 170 jet that was used to transport the children to Pittsburgh, where they are receiving medical attention from the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. Flight 9401 arrived in Pittsburgh at 9:22 this morning.
Previously, the aircraft had flown from Pittsburgh to Port-au-Prince, where it dropped off 3,000 pounds of medical and surgical supplies donated by Brother’s Brother Foundation in Pittsburgh. Also on board the flight were Governor Ed Rendell, Congressman Jason Altmire, members of their staff and a team of UPMC medical professionals, who checked on the condition of the children and assisted in clearing their departure from Haiti. The aircraft returned to Florida to refuel and await the arrival of the children and medical staff, who were flown on a U.S. military flight from Port-au-Prince, Haiti to Stanford, Fla. Flight 9401 left Stanford at 7:34 this morning.
“We often talk of providing ‘The best care in the air,’ and today we were honored by the opportunity to provide truly vital service,” said Wayne Heller, executive vice president and COO of Republic Airways. “We are proud to partner with the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center and the U.S. government in transporting these children to safety, and I appreciate the hard work our flight crews, customer service and other support personnel did on short notice to help us fly these children to an environment where they can receive the care they so urgently need.”
“I would also like to thank Governor Ed Rendell, Congressman Jason Altmire, the Department of Homeland Security, the Pittsburgh TSA, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection offices in Miami, Washington, Pittsburgh, Sanford Orlando, and Miami, and the U.S. military operation in Haiti for all their efforts to make this operation possible,” Heller added.
Republic Airways Holdings, based in Indianapolis, Indiana, is an airline holding company that owns Chautauqua Airlines, Frontier Airlines, Lynx Aviation, Midwest Airlines, Republic Airlines and Shuttle America, collectively “the airlines.” The airlines offer scheduled passenger service on approximately 1,600 flights daily to 119 cities in 44 states, Canada, Costa Rica, and Mexico under branded operations at Frontier and Midwest, and through fixed-fee airline services agreements with five major U.S. airlines. The fixed-fee flights are operated under an airline partner brand, such as AmericanConnection, Continental Express, Delta Connection, United Express, and US Airways Express. The airlines currently employ approximately 11,000 aviation professionals and operate 290 aircraft.
