Icelandair press-release
Icelandair Group and DB Schenker have signed an agreement regarding 45 cargo flights between Shanghai in China and Munich in Germany, transporting medical equipment for health care providers across Europe. Additional flights from Shanghai to Chicago, USA, through Iceland are also part of the agreement.
Three Boeing 767 aircraft will be redesigned for this project where the passengers’ seats will be removed to accommodate the freight load within the passenger cabin. The financial amount of the agreement is confidential. Icelandair Group’s subsidiaries, Icelandair Cargo and Loftleidir Icelandic – the Company’s aircraft leasing and consulting business – manage the preparation and execution of the flights. The partnership is regarding a minimum of 45 flights but the parties have already agreed to continue with additional flights to China as long as needed.
CEO Icelandair Group Bogi Nils Bogason emphasized the importance of the agreement for the airline during COVID-19 times: “This is an important agreement for Icelandair Group during times of significant loss of revenue from our passenger network following the COVID-19 outbreak. In this project we combine our expertise on cargo transport and organising charter flights around the world. One of the key strengths of Icelandair Group is the flexibility to be able to respond quickly to opportunities and execute them in a short period of time. It is also a pleasure to participate in such an important project and find innovative solutions that contribute to the fight of the global pandemic that the world is currently facing.”
Previously in April Icelandair performed 3 cargo flights to pick up medical supplies for Icelandic state hospital Landspitali from Shanghai (ICAO code: ZSPD) to Keflavik. The cargo was placed inside passengers cabin on the seats. All flights were performed by Icelandair Boeing 767-300ER reg. TF-ISW. There are 4 Boeing 767-300ER in Icelandair fleet, regs of other three are TF-ISN, TF-ISP and TF-ISO.
