Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many of the 166 round trip evacuation flights recently conducted to and from Kabul by the Royal Air Force as part of Operation Pitting were conducted by (a) C-17, (b) Voyager, (c) A400M, (d) C-130 J and (e) other aircraft types.

The Defence Secretary and Prime Minister have referred to 100 round trips or 200 aircraft movements. We do not recognise the 166 figure in the Rt Hon. Gentlemen’s question.

The following table provides a breakdown of roundtrip flights (to and from) Hamid Karzai International Airport (HKIA) over the course of Operation PITTING (14 - 28 August 2021).

These flights operated between locations within the broader Middle East and Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul. Passengers arriving from Kabul were transferred onto a combination of military and charter aircraft, including RAF Voyager, for onward flights to the UK.