Cheney Calls for Airliners to Assist Airlift
WASHINGTON — Defense Secretary Dick Cheney declared an “airlift emergency†Friday and ordered airlines to provide more planes to help ferry supplies and equipment to the Middle East. Officials said 17 planes will be pressed into service.
A total of 181 planes were covered by Cheney’s order activating the second stage of a program for putting commercial jets into military service. But the Military Airlift Command said it has no plans to use that many.
Twenty-nine planes were provided in the first stage activated by Cheney on Aug. 17. Of those, 28 are still in service, mostly flying personnel to the theater of war.
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