Air Serv International was established in 1984 as a non-sectarian, not-for-profit spin-off of Mission Aviation Fellowship, initially in response to the then raging Ethiopian famine. Using a wide variety of general aviation fixed and rotary wing aircraft, over the years Air Serv has flown millions of miles across the world, from Central and South America to Africa, and from the Middle East to Sout
heast Asia in some of the most inaccessible places under extremely difficult circumstances during wars, internal conflicts, and natural disasters. In more recent years, Air Serv began flight operations in Afghanistan in 2002 and was the first civilian air operator allowed access to Iraq following the end of initial combat operations in the spring of 2003. In December, 2004, Air Serv responded immediately to the devastating Southeast Asia tsunami in Sri Lanka and Indonesia, and when the Pakistan earthquake hit in 2005 Air Serv helicopters provided vital access to the mountainous areas for organizations such as Doctors without Borders. From 2004 – 2012 Air Serv supported NGO efforts in eastern Chad and the Darfur region of Sudan from a base in Abeche, Chad. In 2010 in the run up to the independence referendum in what is now South Sudan, Air Serv provided a dedicated aircraft for use by the International Federation of Electoral Systems to facilitate voter registration in remote villages. Current Air Serv programs include three aircraft assigned to Doctors without Borders in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, two Juba, South Sudan-based planes serving a “who’s who” list of NGOs, and an Entebbe, Uganda-based aircraft available for ad hoc and emergency NGO charters. Air Serv programs have generally been funded by government grants and cooperative agreements, to a lesser extent by contracts with selected NGOs and on occasion by gifts and grants from organizations such as AOPA (in the wake of the 2004 Indonesian tsunami) and corporations such as Federal Express, Alaska Airlines, Safran USA, and The Wicks Group. With a fleet of six Cessna Caravans, Air Serv International now renders all its flight operations and aviation maintenance services through its wholly owned Uganda-based subsidiary, Air Serv Limited (ASL). With an operational base and hangar facilities at Uganda’s Entebbe International Airport, ASL is structured as a commercial (Ugandan) business which gives the enterprise the flexibility to complement - and subsidize - humanitarian flying with selected general commercial work. In 2011 ASL achieved World Food Program “A List” accreditation, having fulfilled the United Nations’ rigorous standards for operational, administrative, engineering, and safety excellence.
