Our eyes have been focused on Hurricane and Ian and the destruction it wrought on Florida, but Hurricane Fiona is hardly a distant memory and Puerto Rico continues to reel from that disaster. Over the weekend, United Airlines played an instrumental role in delivering water to San Juan, Puerto Rico providing critical humanitarian aid to the island commonwealth.
United Airlines’ Water Mission To Puerto Rico – The Most Precious Cargo Of All
More than two weeks after Fiona, more than 100,000 in Puerto Rico are still without power. The hurricane crippled the electrical grid on the island leading to a virtual total blackout for several days. The hurricane also compromised water supplies, with over 500,000 without potable water. Water filtration systems across the island were rendered inoperable post-due to electrical failures triggered by Fiona.
Over the weekend, United Airlines teamed up with Molson-Coors (the beer conglomerate) to donate and ship nearly 15,000 cans of water from Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR) to San Juan, Puerto Rico (SJU) to help support those recovering from Hurricane Fiona.
The shipment occurred on two separate flights, the first being Saturday morning on UA 2143, a Boeing 767-400ER aircraft. Overnight, the water was loaded onto the aircraft. The same thing occurred Sunday morning, also on UA2143.
In the wake of crises and natural disasters that could occur around the world, United Airlines continues to step up to do good by providing essential resources and relief to communities that are greatly affected.
United Airlines has stepped up over the last couple of years with shipments of COVID-19 vaccines during the pandemic, baby formula during the shortage earlier this year, and now water. Its actions represent, in my mind, that good corporate citizenship is good for the bottom line…by serving the communities you serve, you do good and it burnishes the corporate image.
On a personal note, my dear cousin Caleb and his family live on Puerto Rico and have been impacted by the storm. It is seriously a disaster there. Our changing world will likely result in more such storms…we need to start preparing now.
CONCLUSION
For all the wars that have been fought over oil, water remains the most precious commodity of all. Without water, the human race cannot survive. Kudos to United Airlines and all who are stepping up to provide relief to those in Puerto Rico (and Florida) in the aftermath of a pair of devastating hurricanes.
all images courtesy of United Airlines
Flights are sometimes needed to quickly transport water but it is very inefficient.
2 liters of water per day is the minimum needed for drinking. 2 liters weighs 2 kg or about 4.4 lbs.
A fully loaded 777 can carry about 100 tons or 200,000 lbs. That’s roughly 50,000 liters (packaging has some weight). 50,000 liters of water will supply 7,000 people for a week. The article says 500,000 people lack water. So that’s 70 fully loaded Boeing 777’s.
The United flight did not carry 100 tons of water. It carried 15,000 cans. That might be less than 4,000 liters of water, which is very nice but a drop in the bucket. I just wrote that 50,000 liters will supply 7,000 people for a week but 4,000 is not close to 50,000 liters and 50,000 liters only supplies 7,000 people, not 500,000 people in need. The answer is ground shipping or ships with aircraft for the initial day or two.
Oops, slight math error but not too much. 200,000 lbs is a bit more than 50,000 liters. The conclusions are still the same.
As derek observes, this is inefficient and inadequate, but a great start and a great effort. As long as these flights were taking place anyway, filling some cargo space with drinking water to help with the crisis, even a little, is a nice gesture. I know Anheuser-Busch has long made canned water available from its plants for disasters, as well.
Good on United. Flying in water may not be the most efficient, but it’s the fastest – good response to an immediate need.
Speaking of United doing a good job, a week and a half ago, I had an IAH-HNL flight delayed for 7 1/2 hours due to a mechanical issue. United kept us informed via text message, distributed three $20 meal vouchers per person during the delay, and followed up with apologies via email and an invitation to submit complaints/concerns/comments via their customer care site.
A large number of people on the flight missed their connection to Guam as a result of the delay, and I understand they were (successfully) put up in hotels in HNL overnight.
I have invented dehydrated water. It cuts down on the weight and 1000x more water can be airlifted quickly. All you need is to mix water at the site and voila you have safe drinking water.
I have filed for patent for dehydrated water but for some reason the patent office is taking too long. I will share my invention once the patent is granted.
@ Matthew — But did they bring paper towels?
When President Reagan visited Grenada, the White House and Secret Service made sure his drinking water was transported.
I have transported water myself. On a 5 day trip to India, I brought my own water. I brought about 10 liters. I also brought food.
I was sort of raised in the Puerto Rican community.
Cool Beans!!
UA obviously has folks who care, that is a good thing.
I don’t take away that it was a nice gesture and meant well, all positives.
With that said this is UA we are talking about, cheap, chintzy UA.
We are going to improve Polaris catering, by just changing the dishware, UA.
We are bringing back hot meals to Domestic First Class, by adding the Impossible Meatballs, Za’atar Chicken and not changing the choices for months, UA.
Yes they can do something good, but they do so much wrong that I have very little room to applaud then for shipping water to Puerto Rico.
United flew down enough water for 0.47% of the island’s population to have one can of water. If AA can get Isom to come down and throw paper towels elat everyone, I’d say this crisis has effectively been mitigated.