SpiceJet puts cargo fleet to ensure supply chain is intact

SpiceJet said on Friday its fleet of freighters is flying to nearby countries including to those in the Middle East and southeast Asia with supplies to mitigate the impact of coronavirus (COVID-19).

The cargo planes are carrying fresh fruits and vegetables, medicines and medical devices, said Chairman and Managing Director Ajay Singh.

"We will do as much as we can to help our government and fellow citizens in the fight to defeat coronavirus. Corona warriors all over the country -- be it our doctors, nurses, healthcare workers, police and volunteers are doing an excellent job," he said in a statement.

SpiceXpress, the cargo arm, has been doing doorstep deliveries of essential supplies, medicines and medical equipment in Bengaluru, Patna, Chennai, Ahmedabad, Raipur, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Visakhapatnam, Srinagar, Thiruvananthapuram, Vadodara, Kochi, Guwahati, Jammu and Lucknow among other cities.

Since early March, the airlines have been operating special cargo flights to ferry vital supplies in the fight against coronavirus. It also helped transport an emergency consignment of IR thermometers required to detect COVID-19 to Kolkata from Hong Kong and will be operating more flights this week.

Special cargo flights have been operated to Gujarat and other states too.

The airline operated special cargo flights to Abu Dhabi, Kuwait and other countries taking fresh fruits and vegetables and helping Indian farmers maintain continuity of their supply chains.

The airlines are also operating dedicated freighter services from Chennai and Vishakhapatnam to Surat and Kolkata to help India's shrimp farmers. Till now, shrimp hatcheries used to face a lot of problems in transporting seeds in the absence of flights leading to a high mortality rate of shrimp seeds which in turn led to heavy losses.

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