Major General Jose Luis Ortiz-Cañavate takes over as the new Deputy Commander of the European Airlift Command.

• A Spanish General occupies a post in the European Air Transport Command for the first time

Major General Jose Luis Ortíz Cañavate Levenfeld has been sworn in as Deputy Commander of the European Airlift Command (EATC) in Eindhoven, the Netherlands. The General has relieved Belgian Brigadier General Patrick Mollet. This is the first time a Spanish general helds a post in the EATC since Spain joined the project in 2014.

Major General Ortiz-Cañavate is an expert fighter pilot with extensive knowledge in the field of air mobility thanks to his previous position as Chief General of the Air Mobility Headquarters in Zaragoza.

The EATC is a unified multinational command, composed of personnel from the seven member countries (Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Spain and France).  It specialises in military air transport, in-flight refuelling and aero medical evacuation. The overall objective is to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of member countries' military air transport through interoperability, harmonisation of procedures and the creation of synergies in air missions.

Its headquarters are located at the Eindhoven Air Base in the Netherlands. The key to the EATC's success lies in the trust placed in the organisation by its members. Nations transfer authority over air assets to the EATC for the planning and execution of air transport missions. Currently the EATC manages a fleet of more than 150 transport aircraft deployed across the national air bases of the seven member nations.