M.C. Dean welcomed home 14 employees and contractors, along with 84 U.S. government employees after several attempts to return them to the United States amid the coronavirus pandemic. All were supporting the U.S. government in Djibouti, Africa when the pandemic was announced.
The company thrice chartered a Boeing 737. After unsuccessful attempts at landing in Abu Dhabi and Istanbul, the company finally succeeded in flying all aboard from Djibouti to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, where they connected to a commercial Ethiopian Airlines flight to Dulles International Airport. The team landed safely at 7:30 a.m. EST on Tuesday, March 31.
“We are excited to bring our team home and to be able to bring home other stranded Americans along with them. This has been a long journey. Special thanks to the U.S. embassies in Ethiopia and Djibouti, and the Ethiopian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and National Defense who helped us in evacuating our employees and other U.S. nationals from Djibouti,” said Bill Dean, M.C. Dean chief executive officer.
M.C. Dean’s team of power systems engineers and technicians were working with the U.S. Navy on a mission critical project in Djibouti when the COVID-19 pandemic was announced by the World Health Organization and, subsequently, international travel restrictions began to limit movement between countries and into the United States. The company chartered flights attempting return through Turkey and the UAE before finally getting clearance to return through Ethiopia.
“Thanks to the M.C. Dean leadership team and the safety team who worked round the clock and left no stone unturned to bring us back home,” said Frank Campbell, M.C. Dean critical infrastructure project leader, who has been working in Djibouti for the past seven weeks. “We are happy to be back home to our families during this unprecedented time.”
Per the CDC guidelines, all of the employees are now under a 14-day self-quarantine.
M.C. Dean is Building Intelligence®. We design, build, operate, and maintain cyber-physical solutions for the nation’s most recognizable mission critical facilities, secure environments, complex infrastructure, and global enterprises. The company’s capabilities include electrical, electronic security, telecommunications, life safety, automation and controls, audio visual, and IT systems. M.C. Dean is headquartered in Tysons, Virginia, and employs more than 5,800 professionals who engineer and deploy automated, secure, and resilient power and technology systems; and deliver the management platforms essential for long-term system sustainability.
