Press Release
9 tons of medical equipment have been brought from China using a TAROM aircraft
Bucharest, April 3, 2020
In full crisis caused by the coronavirus pandemic, which is holding on ground, all around the world, most of the airline’s fleet, TAROM manages to reinvent itself and to find solutions in supporting the authorities‘ efforts. A Boeing 737-800 NG aircraft belonging to TAROM has been adapted so to import 9 tons of medical supplies from China in order to combat the spread of the virus.
This is the first time when a commercial flight with TAROM aircraft performs a full cargo one. The plane took off from Bucharest Otopeni Airport on April 2nd, on Almaty (Kazakhstan) – Shenzhen (China) route and returned to the country on the evening of April 3rd.
Seven employees of the company have been part of the flight crew which carried the transport:
Three commanding pilots, Cristian Iancu, Adrian Preda, Mădălin Gherghina, under the lead of the Flight Director, flight instructor Florin Susanu, two aircraft technicians, Florin Postolache and Cristian Mitu and a loadmaster, Andrei Petre.
To perform a full cargo transport flight with medical materials, TAROM converted two of its Boeing 737-800 NG passenger aircraft from its fleet.
„As we have stated since the beginning of this crisis, TAROM will respond to any initiative aimed to support the fight against this pandemic. Moreover, we are proactive in finding solutions and coming up with proposals to support the authorities, and the fact that seven of our colleagues have voluntary offered to face any risk and to fly to China, it’s a proof that we are prepared to remain in the first line. I thank them for their efforts and the other colleagues who have worked on the conversion of the two aircraft to obtain, in a very short time, this cargo capability. I want to mention that this flight would have not been possible without the huge support of the Representatives of the Ministry of Transport, Infrastructure and Communications, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Embassy of Romania in the People’s Republic of China and the Embassy of the People’s Republic of China in Romania, ”said George Barbu, CEO TAROM..