Avient has denounced SIPRI's report as 'insidious and without foundation or proof'.
Zimbabwe-registered Avient has reacted robustly to a report by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), which claims that around 90% of the airfreight carriers identified in arms smuggling reports had also been contracted by reputable agencies to carry humanitarian aid.
The SIPRI study singled out Avient, among other airlines, and inferred that the carrier was of a typology known as an ‘international facilitator’ – or a company that ‘mainly focuses on licit markets but nevertheless appears linked to serial arms embargo violators through self-declared partnerships or the swapping of personnel, aircraft or offices in the form of shared asset operating history’.
The inference surrounded Avient’s purported links to United Arabian Airlines (UAA), which was recommended for an aviation ban by the UN with regard to repeated arms embargo violation flights to Darfur, according to the report.
Avient has indicated that it had a relationship with the owners of a DC-8 operated on the UAA callsign, but added that the aircraft had been de-registered from Sudan in 2007 and that it had ceased to be involved with UAA in April 2008.
“During all the time that Avient marketed this aircraft we maintained all flight documentation to prove all cargo and flights were carried out in accordance with internationally accepted legal practices and they did not carry cargo to Darfur,” said Andrew Smith, managing director of Avient.
“These flight documents are maintained for five years and are open for inspection by any applicable authority at any time. All references and inferences attaching to Avient are factually incorrect and at no stage has any attempt been made to contact Avient by SIPRI or the authors,” Smith added.
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FEATURED COMMENT
I have worked in the international cargo business for many years as a pilot, & have flown for Avient on a subservice con
Cargo
I have worked in the international cargo business for many years as a pilot, & have flown for Avient on a subservice contract in Africa. it is a well known fact throughout the industry that Avient is a 4th rate cargo airline. all the allegations about arms shipments are probably true. on one of my (few) Avient flights i was carrying 20 mm ammunition from France to Chad. the cargo was manifested as "farm machinery". this has been going on for years in Africa. if & when Avient stops doing this, another airline will step in & takeover.
Paul Smith (May 19, 2009) Sharjah United Arab Emirates
No smoke without fire
I do think that they protest too much - its well known within the industry that these cowboy firms made their money by being involved in the blood trade of shipping arms - yet the United Nations and WFP continue to use these people as they choose their carriers based on cost not on morals
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FEATURED COMMENT
I have worked in the international cargo business for many years as a pilot, & have flown for Avient on a subservice con