A plane carrying a shipment of personal protective equipment (PPE) for healthcare workers has landed at Dublin Airport this afternoon.
The Aer Lingus plane set off for Beijing yesterday to pick up the first batch of PPE as part of a €208m deal. It was the first of 10 flights to be sent to China to take the equipment back to Ireland.
Before the plane took off from Dublin yesterday, a message of thanks to the crew was delivered by a member of the air traffic management team at the Irish Aviation Authority and you can hear it in the clip below…
2/2 EI9018 Dublin to Beijing @1053: farewell recording https://t.co/dIe5Y0dYUH #avgeek #covid19ireland
— IAA (@IAApress) March 28, 2020
Just after 3pm today, flight EI9018 landed back in Dublin and the equipment is due to be distributed to healthcare facilities from this evening.
https://twitter.com/RCarrollTV/status/1244263192362131458
Health Minister Simon Harris has posted a message of thanks and acknowledged the ‘huge teamwork to secure this equipment and to sort logistics. He added ‘HSE will start distributing it tonight. More flights with PPE in coming days.’
Thank you so much to @AerLingus & crew of E19019 for collecting personal protective equipment for Ireland & flying it back. Huge team work to secure this equipment & to sort logistics. @HSELive will start distributing it tonight. More flights with PPE in coming days #coronavirus
— Simon Harris TD (@SimonHarrisTD) March 29, 2020
The arrival of the equipment comes on the same day that it was announced that Citywest Hotel will be used as an isolation facility for people with Covid-19.
