APO mail delivery put on hold

  • Published
  • 39th Air Base Wing Public Affairs
RAMSTEIN AIR BASE, Germany --  While the Air Force has started to fly again in Europe, Icelandic volcanic ash spewing into the atmosphere over central and northern European airports continues to impact military mail coming into and leaving Europe.

No military mail has flown in or out of commercial airports in Benelux, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, or the United Kingdom since a temporary ban on flights in 10 European nations was imposed April 15. Commercial airports in Europe are essential hubs for moving military mail in and out of countries where U.S. servicemembers and their families are stationed.

Military Post Office managers at Ramstein, Kapaun and Sembach notified personnel April 19 that they will no longer accept packages temporarily for delivery outside Germany.

The 2nd Air Postal Squadron Mail transportation here manages and tracks military mail transportation for U.S. Air Force in Europe. Squadron officials said Frankfurt International Airport is dealing with a backlog of 26 tons of outbound mail for worldwide destinations.

Another critical mail control activity, London Heathrow Airport, which receives all mail for air bases in the UK, has a back log of 1.5 tons. The U.S. Postal Service has a backlog of 91 tons and 12 tons waiting to be dispatched from stateside hubs to Frankfurt and London, respectively.

Mail sent from the U.S. to military mail hubs in Madrid, Spain, and Istanbul, Turkey, remains unaffected by the volcanic ash. However, there have been adverse affects to mail shipped from other APOs.

"Mail being sent by Incirlik postal patrons to APOs located in Germany, Italy, the U.K., etc., has been secured by Air Force postal personnel at the Istanbul Aerial Mail Terminal," said Tech. Sgt. Jonathan Donovan, Incirlik assistant postmaster. "All European AMTs should be resuming normal service over the next few days, and any backlog of intra-theatre mail should be cleared by Monday, April 26."

Air Force Post Office patrons will see very little, if any, mail delivered for at least the next week, said Tech. Sgt. Lee Swan, 2nd AIRPS. However, surface mail (truck and ship) is unaffected by airport closures and will continue to flow normally.

According to officials familiar with postal operations at Ramstein, postal staffs throughout the APO system make every effort to ensure mail is delivered as quickly as possible. The mail backlog could take four to five days to process once airport commercial flights and the air mail transportation network resume. Storage capacity at APOs and the supporting aerial mail terminals dictate ability to accept outgoing mail.

Military officials apologize for any inconvenience this natural event is causing and request that customers continue to monitor local communication channels and servicing APOs for updates.