World Airways Departs For Vietnam

A World Airways plane departed Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport Sunday bound for Vietnam as part of a historic trip commemorating the 30-year anniversary of "Operation Babylift." World Airways is returning 21 Vietnamese adoptees to Ho Chi Minh City for a special two-day visit where they will tour the city and will be honored at a special banquet in the Unification Palace.

World Airways airlifted 57 orphans from Saigon and brought them to the United States to be adopted by American families on April 2, 1975. World Airways contacted 21 of those children, now adults, and invited them for this special trip aboard one of World's modern MD-11 wide-body passenger aircraft, specially painted with the company's former red and white design and logo from 1975. Several of the invited adoptees were on that historic flight.

That flight to California led to an even larger Operation Babylift effort by the U.S. government throughout the month of April 1975, transporting more than 3,000 children.

"After two years of planning, we are finally on our way for what will be the second journey of a lifetime for many of these individuals," said Randy Martinez, chief executive officer of World Air Holdings, Inc. "It's an honor to help make this trip happen, and the two days we will spend in Ho Chi Minh City will truly be memorable."

Invited guests, several of whom participated in the original Operation Babylift, are joining the adoptees and Martinez on the trip. World Airways pilots Ken Healy and Bill Keating, who flew the original flight out of Saigon under dangerous conditions, and other members of the original crew and ground support employees are taking part in the special trip. They will be joined by Ross Meador, who placed the 57 children on the 1975 flight from an orphanage he managed for Friends of the Children of Vietnam (FCVN).

The commemorative flight will stop at World Airways' former headquarters city, Oakland, Calif. before heading on overseas. In Ho Chi Minh City, the adoptees and invited guests will participate in an arrival ceremony at the airport, tours of the city (including the Phu My orphanage) and a gala dinner at the Unification Palace. The group will return to San Francisco on July 17, before finishing the journey back to Atlanta later that day.

FMI: www.worldairways.com