Reaching the top of the £6,000-an-hour Embraer Lineage’s steps, I turn right and enter the cabin. The cream leather and walnut veneer are nowhere to be seen, buried beneath protective blankets, while the first officer can be seen kneeling in the aisle pushing shrink-wrapped jars of baby food under a seat. The captain catches my attention out of a starboard-side window as he carries boxes of nappies toward the fore cargo hold. I wasn’t sure what to expect as I arrived at Stansted’s Diamond hangar about 10 minutes earlier, but this wasn’t it.
The transition from the executive surrounds of London Jet Centre to the heart of an urgent rush to get supplies on board an aircraft had been enough to make my head spin. I could tell it was a business jet as my feet sank into the deep shagpile carpet on every step, but the luxurious armchair-like seats which recline into beds at the touch of a button had been surrounded by piles of tinned foods and sleeping bags as I made my way toward the rear of the cabin.
In charge of this near-surreal humanitarian effort was John Matthews, AirX chairman, and his wife, Amy, who had been prompted into action by the shocking events unfolding in the Ukraine; Russia having unthinkably invaded their neighbo…
