Refugee Air: "We welcome the first refugees who have had a safe passage by air to Stockholm"

After intense efforts to showcase that there are legal ways for refugees to take safe routes into the EU, and to bring this issue to the top of the agenda in several European countries, Refugee Air today announces that the initiative endorses the European Redistribution Program and the Swedish government's decision to increase its UN quotas threefold.

”This is a huge cause for celebration and plays well into our main agenda; to create safe routes for refugees into the EU. We have already proven that the carrier’s liability has been misread and has no actual impact on the situation, in fact refugees have the right to fly", says Susanne Najafi, co-initiator of Refugee Air. We have worked immensely to make safe routes a reality and are very happy to see European leaders come together and put this into practice by establishing a permanent program and a viable solution for safe refugee passage by air in crisis situations.

Earlier this month Refugee Air announced that their legal investigation shows that all Syrian refugees are entitled to fly to EU-countries. The European Distribution Program is a solution that enables immediate routes for asylum seekers within the EU in accordance with the program.

“One of our most outspoken goals was to charter a plane to showcase that safe passage through the air for refugees is a viable option and to turn this option into a sustainable model. We are therefore extremely happy that the European countries have acted on this issue and applied sustainable processes to enable thousands and thousands of refugees safe routes into the EU", says Emad Zand. ”The inaugural flight was a big win not only for our cause, but for all initiatives that have been pushing for safe routes for refugees. We believe that the EU and in particular Sweden has set an important precedent."

The Refugee Air initiative started in September and has quickly grown into a collaborative movement engaging hundreds of Sweden's most influential entrepreneurs, lawyers, and other leading professionals working hands-on to put a stop to people risking their lives at sea due to policies.

“We have reached over 830 million people with our #letthemfly campaign and thousands have contacted us to find out how they can help. There is a large movement in Europe that wants to see refugees being able to fly safely to the EU and now we are seeing this happening." says Emad Zand

Going forward Refugee Air will continue working to improve the conditions for refugees locally in Sweden and are currently in discussions with multiple governmental organizations and NGO's in order to share the resources and knowledge obtained within the initiative.

“We have showed that crowd-sourced entrepreneurial organizations like Refugee Air can move fast and provide massive resources both to established NGOs and governments. This might be the future way of mobilizing help and support in crisis situations and we are happy to share the blueprint of Refugee Air”, says Susanne Najafi

About Refugee Air

Refugee Air is a non-profit initiative led by action-driven entrepreneurs and humanitarians aimed at enabling refugees to safely travel into the EU. We know how to solve problems and get things done and we want to make a difference right now. We’re putting crowd-sourced competencies and our extensive networks to work to save lives and drive positive change.

Susanne Najafi is a serial entrepreneur who has built a large number of companies across industries. She now invests in new ideas and start-up ventures.

Emad Zand is a serial entrepreneur within healthcare and tech and has built, run and sold companies employing thousands of people.