The Antonov 225 Mriya, the world’s largest aircraft, today transported more than 10.3m face masks from China to Germany as part of the SALIS Project (Strategic Airlift Interims Solution).
PortGround, a subsidiary of Mitteldeutsche Flughafen, unloaded the six-engine cargo aircraft through its nose access point.
An Antonov An-124 landed at Leipzig/Halle Airport on Sunday. It arrived from Shanghai via Almaty (Kazakhstan) en route, with 8.3m face masks on board.
Both aircraft belong to the Ukrainian-based Antonov Airlines. Two Antonov 124-100 planes have been permanently stationed at Leipzig/Halle as part of the SALIS Project since March 2006.
The flights are coordinated and handled by Antonov Salis, which is based at Leipzig/Halle Airport.
Götz Ahmelmann, CEO of the airport, said: “Leipzig/Halle Airport occupies a key position in supplying the population with essential medical equipment in the battle against the corona pandemic.
“As Germany’s second-largest cargo airport, we’ve already been able to safely and reliably handle humanitarian aid flights with hundreds of tonnes of aid materials during the last few weeks – and we’ll continue doing so.”
In addition to the Antonov aircraft, about 15 more planes have landed at Leipzig/Halle Airport with medical equipment since the end of March. PortGround has handled about 500 tonnes of these urgently needed supplies, including the SALIS flights.
Other humanitarian aid flights are being planned.
