At 9:03 in the morning of this Sunday, March 14, United Airlines flight 819 from Houston landed at Ezeiza International Airport, bringing the first load of vaccines against COVID-19 transported by the airline to Argentina.
This has been another milestone for United in its involvement in global vaccine distribution logistics. In November it became the first commercial airline to deliver the first batch of the Pfizer – BioNTech vaccine to the United States.
Like much of the industry, United Airlines had to adapt during the pandemic to continue to ensure the arrival of goods and services by air as a large proportion of cargo space in the hold of passenger flights became unavailable.
Thus, since March 2020, more than 10,900 flights have operated in which around 256 thousand tons of cargo have been moved, being 48,000 of them medical supplies.
All the acquired know-how is now being used to participate in the distribution of vaccines against COVID-19 in countries around the world, including Argentina since yesterday. Since November they have already transported around 10 million doses.
«United’s freight service has helped safely deliver many essential goods during this pandemic, but there is no shipment that makes me more proud than helping bring this life-saving vaccine to our communities,» said Jan Krems, President of United Cargo. «Although we still have a long way to go, the promise of a widely distributed vaccine gives us hope that we are one step closer to leaving this pandemic behind and moving towards a better future together» he added.
«The real heroes are the scientists who created these life-saving vaccines and the frontline workers who not only administer them but also help those living with this virus. United is proud to do their part to help take this valuable cargo to the people and communities that need it, and hopes to be able to do our part in the coming months,» Krems concluded.
