Coronavirus: Lufthansa resumes flights to China – to collect tonnes of masks and equipment for Germany
- Europe’s largest commercial airline will be the primary carrier of medical goods, but the German air force, or Luftwaffe, could also assist
- Lufthansa, which cancelled flights to China on January 29, could fly an Airbus passenger jet with a 25-tonne capacity to Shanghai ‘every day’
The German government could send empty Lufthansa passenger jets to Shanghai every day to collect payloads of face masks and medical equipment as part of a Luftbrücke (airlift) to improve the supply chain of urgently needed goods for its battle against the coronavirus.
Recalling the spirit of the historic “airlift” of Allied food and fuel supplies that helped West Berlin overcome the Soviet blockade in 1948/49, Germany is now counting on daily deliveries of 25 tonnes of airfreighted surgical masks and medical garment supplies from China to help it slow the spread of the Covid-19 disease caused by the coronavirus. The virus has already claimed 2,349 lives in Germany and infected 113,296 – making it the world’s fourth most impacted country.
Amid reports of supply chain mayhem and face masks being diverted away from Germany by third parties, Chancellor Angela Merkel agreed in a recent phone call with Chinese President Xi Jinping that closer international cooperation was needed, in particular efforts to alleviate supply bottlenecks caused by the rising global demand for protective medical equipment made in China.
“She discussed the global challenges caused by the pandemic in a phone call with Xi,” Demmer said on Wednesday in Berlin. “They were both in agreement that the current crisis can only be resolved through closer international collaboration – such functioning trade.”
Merkel’s call with Xi in late March led to further conversations between respective deputies in each country designed to improve the supply chain to Germany, according to an internal paper for parliament from the German health ministry. Merkel has visited China 12 times during her 15 years as chancellor and Xi has been a frequent guest to Germany. China is Germany’s most important trade partner in the world and Germany is China’s leading trade partner in Europe.
“After the talk between the chancellor and China’s President Xi and subsequent follow-up talks between the Chinese trade ministry and the German health ministry at the start of April, we were able to open direct access to a state producer that has promised a higher level of quality and delivery guarantees,” the paper read.
Merkel and her government have received high marks at home and abroad for their management of the crisis so far. Its mix of early lockdown measures and aggressive testing for the coronavirus has been successful in slowing the spread of the disease – with the doubling rate for new infections now slowing to more than 14 days from just three days – before the lockdown measures were introduced last month.