September 5 - Cargo broker, Air Charter Service reports exceptionally high demand for charters carrying relief goods to drought and famine hit Somalia.

Justin Lancaster, group cargo director for ACS (pictured below), said: "We have now flown or booked well over 2,000 tonnes of relief cargo in total down to Mogadishu and the rest of Somalia in the past month or so.

"We started flying humanitarian aid to the Horn Of Africa in early July, and have been busy organising charters on behalf of our relief customers ever since. The plight of the people down there is terrible, and we are working hard with governments and relief organisations to get the much needed aid to the places that need it the most.

"We have flown a multitude of cargoes to both Kenya and Somalia, including tents to shelter refugees and food and water using a wide variety of aircraft types including large aircraft such as Boeing B747s and MD-11s, as well as the smaller DC-8s and AN-12s."

Air Charter Service has a long history in relief efforts over the past 20 years having helped governments and relief agencies both fly in cargo, as well as search and rescue teams to affected areas.