National Airlines flies into Mumbai to lift 100 tonnes of critical medicines

June 12, 2020

National Airlines has operated its B747-400 freighter from Mumbai to Chicago, carrying 100 tonmes of essential medicines on behalf of JUSDA India, a logistics and supply chain subsidiary of Foxconn Technology Group. This freighter operation is an important milestone in fighting the current COVID-19 crisis.

With air cargo playing a crucial role in this pandemic, over the last three months, National Airlines has been flying personal protective equipment (PPE) and other medical supplies to every state in the US and major hotspots globally.

“We are extremely happy to associate with National to operate this flight from Mumbai (BOM) to Chicago (ORD) carrying essential pharmaceuticals for our esteemed pharmaceutical customers. We intend to do more of such missions in the coming days,” said Saurabh Goyal, General Manager of JUSDA India.

Commenting on the pharma freighter operation, Jacob Matthew, President and Board Member of National Air Cargo, said: “We have had done multiple flights from India during the current crisis. We have carried critical cargo into India and from India to the United States. We are very happy to associate with JUSDA for this pharmaceutical mission.”

In March, immediately after the Indian government declared a complete nation-wide lockdown, National Airlines had flown into Mumbai with ventilators and other Covid-19 related critical supplies from the United States.

In the last three months, National Airlines has been flying around the world for the US Government’s Project Airbridge by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and other Government and Commercial entities using its own fleet of freighters and passenger aircraft to carry personal protective equipment (PPE) and other medical supplies to every state in the US and world-wide.

Project Airbridge was created to reduce the time it takes for the US medical supply distributors to receive personal protective equipment and other critical supplies into the country for their respective customers. National Airlines has been a critical stakeholder in these missions connecting the world including critical supplies to Haiti and the cargo carrier has done several of these charter missions in the last three months.

James Graham

James Graham is an award-winning transport media journalist with a long background in the commercial freight sector, including commercial aviation and the aviation supply chain. He was the initial Air Cargo Week journalist and retuned later for a stint as editor. He continues his association as editor of the monthly supplements. He has reported for the newspaper from global locations as well as the UK.