The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 6 plus 7 letter word BERLIN AIRLIFT
I've seen this crossword clue in Financial Times
B
E
R
L
I
N
A
I
R
L
I
F
T
Buddy explains!
The cryptic/wordplay part
In cryptic crossword there's often an wordplay/cryptic part as well.This part involves a more complex hint, such as an anagram, homophone, hidden word, etc.
Sadly, We don't have an explanation for this specific crossword clue yet.