Air cargo the area surrounding the city and thus land access. As this access was closed, in the so-called Berlin blockade, an airlift remained the only option to get increasingly urgent deliveries of food, coal, and other supplies to West Berlin. Over 330 days to 12 May 1949 a total of 2.26 million tons of cargo were airlifted to Berlin, an average of 6,800 tons a day, 80% by the US and 20% by the UK. Although freight traffic developed modestly, reaching only 800,000 tonnes worldwide by the mid-1950s, the world economy was hitting its post-war stride. Germany and Japan were emerging
Operation Avak landed at the new Ruhama Airfield at 18:00 on August 23, and carried essential supplies for maintaining the field and assisting later aircraft. It raised a lot of dust (, "Avak"), coining a name for the operation and the landing strip (hence named Avak 1). During the following days, the airfield was fitted with an electric generator and the runway lit with electric lights. On the first day, 29 tons of supplies were brought to the Negev. While only 14–15 tons were planned to be transported per day, the air force proved capable of increasing the capacity to 75 by