From February 18-21, CAAC organized the 8th batch of 78 chartered aircraft transporting 8000 staff and supplies from all over the country to assist COVID-19 control efforts in Hubei. In particular, Chengdu Airlines successively sent out 4 domestic ARJ21 regional airliners to operate charter flights transporting Sichuan Medical Team from Chengdu to Wuhan, with the captains being Liu Jun, Secretary of the Party Committee of CAAC Southwest Regional Administration, and Sun Wensheng, Deputy Director of Sichuan Safety Supervision and Management Bureau CAAC. It is the first time that domestically manufactured airliners were used for charter flights assisting the epidemic prevention and control.

Liu Jun (right), Secretary of the Party Committee of CAAC Southwest Regional Administration, in the cockpit as flight crew member

Medical team members preparing for boarding to assist COVID-19 control efforts in Hubei

According to the demand of the Joint Prevention and Control Mechanism of the State Council, 20 airlines, including Air China, China Eastern, China Southern, Hainan Airlines, Xiamen Airlines, Shandong Airlines, Chengdu Airlines, Juneyao Airlines, Hebei Airlines, Jiangxi Airlines, West Air, GX Airlines, Okay Air, YT Airlines, Chongqing Airlines, China Express, Guizhou Airlines, Air Changan, Zhejiang Loong Airlines and Fuzhou Airlines, transported 46 medical teams and medical supplies from the 20 provinces of Shanghai, Tianjin, Chongqing, Inner Mongolia, Ningxia Autonomous Regions, Jilin, Hebei, Henan, Anhui, Shanxi, Shandong, Heilongjiang, Liaoning, Hainan, Fujian, Sichuan, Jiangsu, Guizhou, Shaanxi, Jiangxi, Guangdong, Guangxi, Zhejiang, Gansu and Yunnan to Wuhan and Yichang, Hubei province.

As of night of February 21, 25 domestic airlines have carried out 294 flights transporting nearly 34 000 medical team members and over 1 600 tons of accompanied baggage and supplies.