On request of the founders of “Donate for the first line” platform, TAROM has scheduled and went up for a flight to carry 350.000 FFP2 masks to be donated to DSU, which will distribute them to hospitals in Romania.
A Boeing 737-800 NG aircraft belonging to TAROM took off from Bucharest “Henri Coanda” International Airport on April 08,2020 to Shenzhen International Airport (SZX). The aircraft landed back to Bucharest” Henri Coanda” International Airport on April 09, 2020, at 17:00HRS.
The crew was formed from pilots: Alexandru Scărlătescu, Cătălin Lateș, Adrian Potcovaru, Traian Lepădatu, Alexandru Ghiurco and Cristian Iancu and the support team was made from loadmaster: Andrei Petre and Gabriel Țuțuianu and technicians: Romeo Ivan and Costel Muscalu.
Message of the organizers of the campaign: “Over 6,000 people and over 300 companies that contributed to the“ Donate for the first line ”campaign are grateful to TAROM pilots and to all those who supported us in the effort to bring the much needed materials to those who are fighting for life: doctors and medical personnel, the Army and the Gendarmerie. We still need to remain solidary in this period that has put us all to such a challenge. Anyone wishing to join us can find more information here: https://www.emag.ro/doneaza any help is welcome”.
„As we have stated since the beginning of this crisis, TAROM will respond to any initiative aimed to support the fight against this pandemic. For this, TAROM has already reconfigured two Boeing 737-800 NG aircraft in order to carry the sanitary supplies that are so needed in these days. Moreover, we are proactive in finding solutions and coming up with proposals to support the authorities, and the fact that ten 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, Romanian Civil Aeronautical Authority, 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.