Category 4 Hurricane — 48-Hour Caribbean Evacuation

A Category 4 hurricane was projected to make a direct hit on St. Barthélemy within 72 hours. A luxury resort needed to evacuate 85 guests and essential staff to multiple destinations — Miami, New York, London, and Paris. Commercial flights were fully booked or cancelled, and the airport had a 48-hour closure window approaching. Small runway (2,170 ft) limited aircraft options.

VOLO activated emergency protocols within 30 minutes of the resort's call. We identified 6 aircraft capable of St. Barts' short runway: two King Air 350s, two Pilatus PC-12s, and two Twin Otters for the initial hop to Sint Maarten (SXM), where larger jets — a Global 6000, Challenger 350, and two Falcon 900s — waited for onward flights to all four destinations. We coordinated with Caribbean ATC for priority departure slots.

All 85 people were evacuated within 36 hours — 12 hours before airport closure. Zero injuries, zero luggage lost. The resort's insurance company noted VOLO's response time set a new benchmark for Caribbean evacuations. The resort group now retains VOLO on annual emergency evacuation standby across their 12 properties.