Emirates will provide a free service to transport supplies from charities based in Dubai to India, in the face of the covid-19 situation that that country is going through.
Starting this week, Emirates Airlines will transport medical supplies from Dubai to nine cities in India for free, which it hopes to contribute to the fight against covid-19 in that country. Recently, India has received international aid, as infections have saturated hospitals, depleted medicines and oxygen tanks, as well as other supplies.
Earlier this month, Qatar Airways also supported the airlift of around 300 tonnes of aid free of charge from Doha to India. For its part, Emirates will provide the free service to transport supplies from Dubai-based charities , said the division’s senior vice president, Nabil Sultan, adding that the support could be extended to bring aid from other parts of the world. “We are absolutely committed to helping India,” he said.
The supplies will be organized through the International Humanitarian City of Dubai, a hub used by many non-governmental organizations to transport aid globally . The supplies will be flown for free until further notice, Sultan said. The first flight that Emirates will support is scheduled to depart for New Delhi on May 13, with 12.6 tons of multipurpose tents from the World Health Organization ( WHO ).
India reported 4,992 new deaths from COVID-19, bringing the total to 242,362. Infections in the last day increased to 403,738, increasing the total since the pandemic began to 22.3 million. Emirates operates 95 weekly flights to nine Indian cities: New Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Kolkata, Ahmedabad, Chennai, Cochin, Hyderabad and Trivandrum. Those flights offer about 5,000 tons of weekly cargo capacity.