On February 27th, CAAC deployed two aircraft for a “cross-border relay”, covering nearly 10,000 kilometers, 15 hours of operation, with which 16 ECMOs (commonly known as “artificial lungs”) urgently purchased in Frankfurt of Germany as instructed by the Central Steering Group were successfully transported to Wuhan two days ahead of schedule.

At noon on February 23, after receiving a pre-notification on the mission, CAAC immediately began to draft several sets of emergency transport plans, and informed airlines to stand by. On the morning of February 26, with details on the mission received, CAAC immediately arranged for Air China for transport on the international segment, and China Postal Airlines on the domestic segment, so that the medical equipment in urgent need at the front-line could be transferred at fastest speed with a seamless relay to Wuhan. At 14:15 on the same day, CAAC organized coordination between the airlines and agent of the party in charge of the mission, and adjusted the original transport plan of Frankfurt-Shanghai-Wuhan on the 28th to Frankfurt-Beijing-Wuhan on the 26th, to make the transport as early as possible. At 21:05 (local time) on the 26th, flight CA1042 loaded with 16 ECMOs took off from Frankfurt Airport and arrived at Beijing Capital Airport at 12:41 (Beijing time) on the 27th. With coordinated support of various parties, Air China and China Postal Airlines quickly completed the handover, then China Postal Airlines’ flight CF9121 took off with 16 ECMOs on board at 17:32 from Beijing Capital Airport and successfully arrived at Wuhan Tianhe Airport at 19:16. CAAC also coordinated in advance the post-landing transfer in Wuhan, which has helped save valuable time for rescuing severely infected patients.

In addition, between February 24 and 25, CAAC also arranged a relay of multiple flights, which successfully transported four ECMOs as allocated by the Joint Prevention and Control Mechanism of the State Council from Changchun and Chengdu to Wuhan.