Icelandair Transports Medical Supplies to Germany

Icelandair Group has signed an agreement with the freight forwarder DB Schenker, regarding at least 45 cargo flights between Shanghai, China, and Munich, Germany, transporting medical equipment for health care providers in Europe.

In addition, the agreement includes several cargo flights from Shanghai to Chicago in the US, with a stopover in Iceland.

The agreement involves daily flights to China, the first of which was scheduled to leave Iceland last Saturday.

Three of the airline’s Boeing 767 aircraft will be temporarily converted for cargo transportation by removing their passenger seats. The agreement is the result of good cooperation between Icelandair Group and DB Schenker when Icelandair flew three times to China from Iceland recently to pick up tons of medical supplies.

Icelandair Cargo and its subsidiary Loftleiðir Icelandic, manage the preparation and execution of the flights, in which more than a hundred employees of Icelandair Group participate. Each crew will include 12 people, that is, pilots, air mechanics and ramp loaders. Dozens of additional employees take part in the project’s organization and preparation. Besides, the aircraft will be converted in Iceland.

There will be a minimum of 45 flights, and the parties have agreed to continue daily flights to China during the current situation, created by the COVID-19 pandemic. The airline is, furthermore, close to reaching a deal on leasing the fourth Boeing 767 to other parties, who are planning cargo flights between China and Europe with the same kind of supplies.

“This is an important agreement for Icelandair Group during times of significant loss of revenue from our passenger network following the COVID-19 outbreak,” Bogi Nils Bogason, CEO of Icelandair Group, states in a press release.

“In this project, we combine our expertise on cargo transport and organizing charter flights around the world. One of the key strengths of Icelandair Group is the flexibility to be able to respond quickly to opportunities and execute them in a short period of time. It is also a pleasure to participate in such an important project and find innovative solutions that contribute to the fight of the global pandemic that the world is currently facing.”