Aer Lingus Airbus a330-300.
Medical supplies being stored in the main passenger cabin. Taken by Aer Lingus.
Aer Lingus have recently been sending their Airbus a330 aircraft to Beijing to collect medical supplies due to the outbreak of Covid-19 here in Ireland. Here is all the information about it.
In the middle of March, the Health Service Executive of Ireland contracted the airline to fly back and forth to Beijing from Dublin to collect medical supplies to battle this pandemic. There will be flights up to five times a week for three months to transport these vital supplies.
There was a large team involved in getting this effort underway. The pilot community, ground flight operations, maintenance, engineering, strategy and planning, commercial, procurement and the legal and finance team were all involved in this critical operation.
There was multiple obstacles to overcome in order to get this underway. It was necessary to get security overfly rights for the routing and approval from the Irish Aviation Authority (IAA). Landing permits and slots were needed in Beijing along with coordinating with handling agents and freight forwarders. Creating a schedule and a roster for the flying programme was another hurdle to get over in this extensive plan. However, with an operation like this that usually takes months, it was done in only seven days, thanks to the hard work of everyone involved.
The flight to Beijing takes 10 hours over and 11 hours back. In each flight, Aer Lingus cover around 4500 nautical miles. Once they land in Beijing, the aircraft is loaded for a duration on six hours. The cargo is loaded not only in the loading bays in the belly of the A330 but also in the main passenger cabin. This was approved by the IAA. Once the plane arrives back in Dublin, the Irish Defence Forces aid in unloading the aircraft.
Five pilots (Two captains and three First Officers where one must be qualified as a Relief Commander), two engineers and a loadmaster are all needed onboard these flights. In order to operate these flights the business class of these aircraft are used for the crew to rest. The pilots switch over for each flight and those who aren’t working use the business class seats as beds by lying them flat.
This all took off on the 29th of March 2020. Aer Lingus Airbus a330-300 EI-EAV operating flight EI9019 left Irish grounds en route to Beijing Capital International Airport. These flights have been happening daily since to transport important medical equipment to help fight the coronavirus pandemic in Ireland.
However, on the 30th of March, Aer Lingus Airbus a330-300 EI-DUZ suffered a bird strike on takeoff from Dublin to Beijing. The plane had to return to Dublin with only one working engine and had special clearance to land on RWY 10 at Dublin International Airport.
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