Ukraine Relief Missions
Briefings

Ukraine Relief Missions

24 March, 2022

Ukraine Relief Missions

By OPSGROUP Team

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If you are an operator who is looking to offer relief aid services as part of the Ukraine conflict, read on.

We have compiled a list of handy contacts, general ops information, and other bits which we hope might help. If you are looking for other support or info then let us know at team@ops.group

If you need support with trip planning you also might want to get in touch with Universal Weather because their Universal Trip Support department are waiving all fees on trip-feasibility assessments, research, and consultation services, as well as ground-handling setup charges for any humanitarian missions.

Some of the airports being utilised for relief missions.

POLAND

Poland borders the Ukraine, however it also borders Belarus, and caution should be taken if operating into the eastern regions of Polish airspace along the border because of high levels of military traffic operating in this area.

Permits

Permits are not required for private flights but you do need to make a declaration in advance.  Private flight also counts as less than 20 seats. Other flights need to make their landing and overflight permit application 3 days in advance.

The Polish Air Navigation Services Agency can be contacted via email at planning.dept@pansa.pl and at trafficrights@ulc.gov.pl, or by telephone on +48 22 520 7309

EPRZ/Rzeszów

The closest airport to the Ukrainian border, where most relief efforts will be focused, is EPRZ/Rzeszów-Jasionka airport (pronounced “jejov”… kinda).

Here is some data on the airport:

  • 10,499’ / 3200m x 45m Runway 09/27
  • CAT II ILS 27 / RNP or VOR 09
  • Restricted H24 operating hours
  • RFF 8 (RFF 9 on request)
  • PCN 82/R/A/W/T
  • Jet A1 available
  • Customs available without restriction
  • Unknown if any maintenance or other support facilities
  • Closest airports for alternates:
    • EPKK/Kraków Large international airport 2550m/8366’
    • EPKT/Katowice Large international airport 2799m/9183’
    • EPWA/Warsaw Major international airport 3690m/12106’
    • EPLL/Lodz Medium airport 2445m/8022’

Here is some “heads up” operational info:

  • Elevation 693’
  • Highest MSA 3400’ and a few close in obstacles
  • Runway 27 has a significantly displaced threshold
  • A lot of VFR traffic operates in the area (on nice weather days) so be cautious. There are dedicated VFR light aircraft runways at the airport as well
  • Do not mistake the highway or the runway at EPRJ 
  • There is no radar vectoring possible due to the high amount of VFR traffic, so expect to follow procedures including procedure turns, and exercise caution with your tracking
  • There are speed and altitude restrictions on SIDs and STARs to be aware of.

Some contact info for you:

  • There are several Handling and Support agents who operate through Poland and neighbouring countries who might be well placed to assist:

EPLB/Lublin

EPLB is about mid-way between EPRZ and EPLL/EPWA, and is far less busy but also well equipped to handle larger aircraft.

Here is some data on the airport:

  • 8268’ / 2520m x 45m Runway 07/25
  • CAT II ILS 25 / RNP 97
  • Operating hours are only 0400-0100, but extendable with 48 hours notice
  • RFF 7
  • PCN 50F/B/X
  • Jet A1 available
  • Customs available without restriction
  • Unknown if any maintenance or other support facilities
  • Closest airports for alternates:
    • See above

Here is some “heads up” operational info:

  • Elevation 636’
  • No terrain to worry about, but a close in obstacle end of runway 25 – MAPP has early turn to avoid
  • Limited taxiways – backtrack required if landing runway 07
  • Big temporary restricted area nearby may impact arrivals and departures when active
  • No radar

Some contact info for you:

  • There are several Handling and Support agents who operate through Poland and neighbouring countries who might be well placed to assist:

EPWA/Warsaw

We received a great report from an OPSGROUP member who operated a flight with humanitarian aid to EPWA/Warsaw on March 20.

Here is a copy of their report:

We arrived Warsaw in the evening on March 20, 2022. Came in from the Northwest, 
originally assigned the BIMPA 6N arrival, but shortly after joining the arrival, 
we were given direct to WA411 for the ILS Y RWY 11. Exited the runway on N1 to M3. 
Assigned parking spot 41 on Apron 5B. 

Handler was Executive Aviation Service arranged through Universal. Fueling was 
delayed because local handler did not have a copy of the World Fuel release.
Lav service was prompt. 

Crew took the opportunity to bring in some items for Ukrainian refugees. 
Crew sent a message to Universal to ask the local handler for drop off information. 
The following website was provided: 
https://en.um.warszawa.pl/-/what-and-where-can-you-bring-for-refugees 

This is a Municipal organization which has over 18 drop off locations. 
The government locations are looking for mostly food, baby products, hygiene products, 
and first aid products. The crew had mostly brought in clothing items, new socks, 
new underwear, hard candy, hygiene products, and small children’s toys. 

These products were not a good match for the requests at the government donation sites. 
The crew asked the Handler for another donation center contact that would welcome 
the clothing. The following contact was provided: 
https://www.tpu.org.pl/en/chcesz_pomoc.html 
email sekretariat@tpu.org.pl or by telephone: +48 691-41-41-59. 

This donation center is run by professionals who have other careers and are helping 
with relief. The site says they are only open on Tuesdays. We happened to be in Warsaw 
on a Tuesday, so it worked perfectly for us. We took an Uber from the Westin 
(downtown Warsaw) to the donation center. 20 minute drive. $5 US via Uber.

If you have operated to the region recently, please get in touch so we can share the info with everyone else looking to do similar trips. You can email us at news@ops.group, or file a report of a recent trip on our Airport Spy page here.

ROMANIA

Some relief efforts are also being arranged through Romania which borders the Ukraine to the south, as well as Moldova.

International flights may be best operating into LROP/Bucharest, LRCL/Cluj Napoca, LRIA/Iasi, LRTR/Timisoara international airports and then fly internally to LRSV/Suceava which is a domestic airport and not an airport of entry, lying close to the border.

Permits

Permits are not required for private or tech-stop flights, but you still need that advance notification. Commercial flights need at leas 2 days notice for permits, and these are required for landing only, not overflights.

The Romanian CAA can be contacted via email at overflight@caa.ro and at dgav@mt.ro, or by telephone on +40 21 319 6209 / +40 21 208 1500

Here is some data on the LRSV/Suceava:

  • 8071’ / 2460m x 45m Runway 16/34
  • CAT II ILS 34 / VOR 16
  • The airport control tower is H24, but Admin operates limited hours confirm with handling agent
  • RFF 7
  • PCN 110/F/C/W/T
  • Jet A1 available
  • Customs available without restriction
  • Unknown if any maintenance or other support facilities
  • Closest airports for alternates:
    • LRIA/Iasi Medium airport 1780m/5840’
    • LRCL/Cluj-napoca Medium airport 1850m/6070’
    • LRSB/Sibiu Medium airport 2000m//6562’
    • LROP/Bucharest Large international airport 3500m/11483’

Here is some “heads up” operational info:

  • Elevation 1375’
  • Highest MSA 5500’ with terrain in the southwest
  • Runway 34 has displaced threshold
  • Limited taxi and apron space
  • Backtrack on runway required
  • VOR oscillations due terrain are likely
  • Very low platform altitude and short final approach
  • Higher than usual SID climb gradients due close in structures

Some contact info for you:

  • There is a large Handling and Support agent who operates through Romania and neighbouring countries who might be well placed to assist:

How to help

The two agencies we’d encourage people to go check out are Airlink and DirectRelief – these two have already flown in shipments of aid and have more scheduled this month. So those are good places to go find out exactly what’s needed, and how to help.

IFALPA and the European Cockpit Association have also put out a letter for members of the aviation community wanting to help support the pilot community in Ukraine. They suggest you reach out to local organizations to help, or donate to larger ones such as Red Cross who are on the ground there. You can read the letter here. 

If you need assistance with anything to help prepare for humanitarian flights, please get in touch.

What do we need?

  • Feedback on your operation if you have carried out a humanitarian mission recently.
  • Any local contacts you have who can assist others.
  • Any other relevant information and advice which we can share to other members.

You can email us at news@ops.group, or file a report of a recent trip on our Airport Spy page here: ops.group/blog/spyreport

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More on the topic:

More reading:

OPSGROUP Team

OPSGROUP Team

Question for us? Write to blog.team@ops.group.

4 Comments

  • Pawel says:
    9 March, 2022 at 4:00 pm

    There is one more airport in Poland suitable for humanitarian aid supply to the border. It’s EPLB which is about mid-way between EPRZ and EPLL/EPWA. Much better and much less busy than other mentioned airports. There was a B747 ops in there recently so I don’t think there should be any operational concerns.

    Reply
  • Renaud says:
    8 March, 2022 at 3:17 am

    Dear colleagues,

    I came back from LRSV,

    I do confirm, there is no maintenance facility,
    Boarding is slow when more than 2 flights.
    Parking is an issue as soon as you have more than 3 aircraft on the ground

    Deicing and fuel staff friendly and efficient.
    Prepare a copy of AOC, noise certificate, and fuel release upon landing for quick turnaround.

    Reply

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