Transported people or cargo by airplane, especially in an emergency or when normal routes weren't available.
From 'air' + 'lift' (to carry up). 'Airlift' emerged in the 1940s during World War II when planes were first used to transport supplies over blocked territory. The past tense 'airlifted' became common during the Berlin Airlift of 1948-1949.
The Berlin Airlift is the most famous airlift in history—for 15 months, planes flew continuously to feed 2 million trapped people by dropping supplies from the sky. It was humanity's first massive rescue operation using aircraft and proved that planes could save lives on an unprecedented scale.
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