IAG Cargo, the cargo division of International Airlines Group (IAG), and its sister company British Airways, has operated a relief flight to India transporting 27 tons of medical aid as the humanitarian crisis in the country worsens. The Boeing B777-200 was loaded with emergency aid to Delhi to support the Indian government as the country continues to battle rising Coronavirus cases, with dwindling oxygen supplies.
A special project team was formed to organize the flight, which left London Heathrow on Wednesday May 5 at 5pm (BA257F), landing in Delhi at 5.45am (local time) on Thursday May 6, loaded with more than a thousand items from the High Commission of India and charities including Khalsa Aid International and the largest Hindu Temple outside India, BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir, in Neasden.
The load included hundreds of urgent life-saving oxygen cylinders and shipments of oxygen concentrators, respirators, and blood oxygen saturation monitors. British Airways is also donating care packages for families in need. While IAG Cargo and British Airways have maintained a vital air link between London and India throughout the pandemic, sending aid items on scheduled flights, this air lift is a special charter, fully funded by the two companies.