LATAM Flies 34 Tons of Hurricane Relief Aid to Jamaica

KINGSTON — LATAM Cargo (UC/M3) has operated a special humanitarian charter to Kingston, Jamaica, transporting approximately 34 tons of emergency supplies to support communities impacted by Hurricane Melissa.

The flight, which departed Panama City and landed on Saturday, November 1, was operated under the airline group’s long-running Solidarity Plane program and will help provide relief to up to 1,500 affected families.

According to Humanitarian Aid Jamaica, the operation was carried out in partnership with the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) and the logistics provider Kuehne+Nagel. The cargo included solar lamps, plastic tarpaulins, emergency response kits, and tool sets—materials identified as critical for both immediate shelter and longer-term reconstruction.

This marks the first joint humanitarian charter to Jamaica conducted by LATAM, IFRC, and Kuehne+Nagel. The supplies originated from the IFRC’s Humanitarian Logistics Hub in Panama, a warehouse system designed to keep emergency stock pre-positioned for rapid deployment across the Americas. The hub maintains enough inventory to support up to 60,000 people affected by disasters.

Comments from LATAM Cargo

Cristina Oñate, VP of Sustainability and Product at LATAM Cargo Group, highlighted the mission’s alignment with the company’s long-term social strategy:

“Supporting communities in critical moments is embedded in our sustainability commitment. Through our Solidarity Plane, we prioritize capacity with unmatched agility to deliver humanitarian aid efficiently.”

IFRC’s regional logistics leadership echoed that the speed of deployment was made possible by pre-positioned stock and existing coordination frameworks. At the same time, Kuehne+Nagel donated freight-forwarding and documentation support to enable rapid dispatch.

LATAM’s Solidarity Plane Program

Now in its 13th year, the Solidarity Plane initiative allows LATAM to move humanitarian, medical, and environmental aid free of charge throughout South America and the Caribbean. From 2021 to 2025, the program has benefited more than 17,000 people and transported over 3,600 tons of aid—including medical supplies, vaccines, and disaster-relief cargo.

The airline group currently maintains nearly 50 NGO and institutional partnerships across Chile, Peru, Colombia, Ecuador, and Brazil.

A Model for Multi-Sector Cooperation

The Jamaica flight reinforces a growing operational trend in humanitarian aviation: coordinated missions involving airlines, NGOs, and private-sector logistics firms. LATAM and Kuehne+Nagel already maintain a Memorandum of Understanding focused on sustainability-based air-cargo solutions, positioning both companies to respond quickly to crisis events.

With the 2025 hurricane season still active in the region, further relief flights may follow as damage assessments continue.