CF chartered MD83 for safe return of hostage Canadian diplomats

Chapman Freeborn Airchartering, on behalf of a major French insurance company, provided the charter for two Canadian diplo-mats after they were released by al-Qaeda militants who had held them captive for over four months in Niger. The hostages, a United Nations special envoy and his assistant, were released in northern Mali. The two men were kidnapped in neighbouring Niger.

CF's Paris office was tasked with providing the charter for their safe return to Europe. It kept a vip-configured MD83 on stand-by for a week until confirmation finally came through that the hostages had been freed.

Following an appearance in front of the media alongside Malian president Amadou Toumani Toure, the two men and an additional 12 passengers left on the MD83 from Bamako to a military base in Germany.