São Paulo, July 7, 2020 – This LATAM flight arrived on Tuesday (7), carrying the largest amount of surgical masks transported since the operation with the Ministry of Infrastructure to bring supplies to fight COVID-19 began. The aircraft transported 11.8 million masks, a record compared to another one of the company’s flights, which arrived in Brazil on June 2 with 9.2 million masks.
Today’s flight is number 35 out of over 40 flights arranged by the Federal Government to carry supplies from China. Since May 6, the country has already received 220 million surgical and N95 masks out of a total of 240 million units acquired by the Ministry of Health.
“At the beginning of the crisis, we took on a huge logistical challenge in order to assist the Ministry of Health, districts and states in providing all of Brazil’s regions with PPE. In an average of 48 hours, we are continuously transporting a total of 960 tons of equipment. It is a silent victory for the Federal Government that is collaborating so that the necessary conditions to face the pandemic are met”, stated the Infrastructure Minister, Tarcísio Gomes de Freitas.
For LATAM Cargo Brazil’s director, Diogo Elias, this is an important mission for the country and the company is increasingly well qualified to carry out the transportation. “Our teams are becoming specialists in boarding these types of cargo, a completely unprecedented situation in Brazil up until the beginning of the pandemic. The cargo transported as part of this mission is so important that it motivates us to do our best and break our own operational records ”, he stated.