CSMIA helps Italy in its fight against coronavirus, transports pharma goods on Alitalia’s maiden freighter flight

GVK led Mumbai International Airport managing Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport (CSMIA) welcomed Alitalia Airline’s first cargo freighter service from Mumbai Airport. Commenced on June 21, 2020, the first flight arrived in Mumbai at 04:19 AM and departed from CSMIA at 17:45 PM. The maiden flight arrived with an import tonnage of 8 tonnes comprising of engineering goods & spares and departed carrying 45 tonnes of pharmaceutical goods/ medical equipment.

CSMIA is helping Italy fight against the coronavirus by aiding the export of medical equipment/ pharma good from Mumbai to Rome with an onward flight to New York with the carrier’s widebody Boeing 777-300 aircraft. Currently, Alitalia is a non-scheduled airline operating one weekly flight, every Sunday until July. The airline will be arriving at CSMIA at 05:00 hours and departing from Mumbai at 17:45 hours.

Headquartered in Fiumicino (Rome), the airline is the flag carrier of Italy and serves as a gateway to supply essential cargo. Optimizing both lower deck and belly space, the airline has converted its passenger aircraft into a cargo-carrying freighter flight. The commencement of the airline’s freighter service will further enhance the cargo capacity and connectivity between Mumbai and Rome region. CSMIA has handled similar passenger-cargo flights with airlines such as Turkish Airlines, Ethiopian Airlines, Virgin Atlantic, British Airways, Emirates Sky Cargo, KLM, Spice Jet, Indigo and Oman Air that have operated passenger flights converted to cargo operations during the lockdown.

Additionally, during the lockdown, CSMIA has necessitated the need of the hour and has transported 3000 tonnes of supplies such as PPE, masks, gloves, and COVID-19 diagnostic kits which have been operated by over 900 flights including scheduled freighters and non-scheduled charters. The essentials were distributed to the states of Maharashtra, Gujarat, Chennai, Hyderabad as well as the remote areas of the country where these essentials are scarce. CSMIA is a gateway for Pharmaceuticals, Perishables, and Engineering goods to India.

Despite facing several challenges and working with a minimal workforce, CSMIA is relentlessly operating its cargo handling activities to cater to the greater need for mobilizing and supplying essential commodities across India and the world. In a bid to mitigate the spread of the virus, CSMIA has undertaken various precautionary measures such as the thermal temperature reading at cargo terminal entrance, maintaining social distance, frequent use of hand sanitizers/sensorbased auto dispensers installed at crucial points, wearing of PPE, regular sanitization of cargo facilities.

Besides, GVK MIAL is taking utmost care by ensuring smooth and efficient functioning of its employees. Safety remains the highest priority of the organization and has adopted all necessary safety precautions to safeguard its employees.