Europe has become the hotbed of coronavirus protection and the healthcare systems of countries such as Spain and Italy are struggling to keep up with the virus.

Although at first Airbus had halted production to ensure their health and safety measures were compliant to combat the virus, it has now restarted production and assembly work in both France and Spain. Many airlines have actually been forced to park aircraft until the travel economy recovers.

Mask Transportations

But, not before transporting no less than 2 million masks from Tianjin in China to the European countries, where they are also distributed to the authorities.

An A330-800 test aircraft was used for the operation to assist with transporting coronavirus protection supplies. The test aircraft have so far brought “thousands” of masks to hospitals in Europe and will transport larger quantities from Chinese suppliers.

Chief executive Guillaume Faury states:

“We try to live up to our values, humbled by the complexity of the situation, and contribute as much as we can to society in these very difficult times,”

The A330-800 (F-WTTO) flew to Tianjin from Toulouse on 21 March and departed for the return service the next day.

“Additional flights are planned to take place in the coming days,”

“Work stations will only re-open if they comply with the new health and safety measures in terms of hygiene, cleaning and self-distancing, while improving the efficiency of operations under new working conditions,”

“The same measures are being deployed across all other sites without full interruption.”

Air-bridge

This air-bridge will enable the delivery of a significant supply of masks to the Spanish public health network in support of current coronavirus protection crisis efforts. This comes on top of donations by Airbus in recent days to provide thousands of masks to hospitals and public services around Europe. Airbus states it will continue to support with additional flights planned to take place in the coming days in coordination with national authorities.

Source: Airbus