1/12/2021 Air India | Covid Vaccination: Air India to play key role in India’s Covid vaccination drive

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Business News › Industry › Transportation › Airlines / Aviation › Air India to play key role in India’s Covid vaccination drive

Air India to play key role in

India’s Covid vaccination drive

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1/12/2021 Air India | Covid Vaccination: Air India to play key role in India’s Covid vaccination drive

Passengers won’t be allowed on board if vaccines are being transported in the passenger cabin.

Synopsis

Commercial airlines, mainly Air India, will play a key role in transporting Covid-19 vaccine vials across the
country as India gears to start the world’s largest inoculation drive this week. “During the rst phase,
national carrier Air India will play a lead role.

New Delhi: Commercial airlines, mainly Air India, will BY

ET Bur
play a key role in transporting Covid-19 vaccine vials
3 MINS READ, L
across the country as India gears to start the world’s Jan 11, 2021, 07
largest inoculation drive this week. “During the rst
phase, national carrier Air India will play a lead role. In
the phases that follow, every available airline resource Share This

is likely to be used,” a government o icial said.

India said on Saturday it would start administering

the coronavirus vaccine from January 16. National
carrier Air India was said to have ferried vials on a FONT SIZE SAVE

ight between Pune and New Delhi on Thursday, but

that may have been a dry run.

Two vaccines – Covishield, developed by the University

of Oxford and AstraZeneca and manufactured by
Serum Institute of India in Pune, and Cova in, an
indigenous vaccine developed by Hyderabad-based
Bharat Biotech – have been approved for emergency
use in India.

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1/12/2021 Air India | Covid Vaccination: Air India to play key role in India’s Covid vaccination drive

Both vaccines need to be administered in two doses

and can be stored at 2-8 degrees Celsius. About 300
million people are expected to be vaccinated in the
rst phase, with priority for healthcare and frontline
workers.

The aviation regulator said airlines must carry the

vaccines packed in dry ice. “All scheduled operators
who have been authorised to carry dangerous goods
may carry Covid-19 vaccine packed in dry ice, meeting
the regulatory requirements,” the Directorate General
of Civil Aviation said in a circular on Friday. “Non-

scheduled operators, including aircraft engaged in

general aviation, that are required to participate in
carriage of vaccines packed in dry ice shall seek
speci c approval before commencing such operations.”

While the
"All scheduled operators who DGCA said
have been authorised to carry dry ice with
dangerous goods may carry
Covid-19 vaccine packed in dry
ice, meeting the regulatory
requirements"

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1/12/2021 Air India | Covid Vaccination: Air India to play key role in India’s Covid vaccination drive

— DGCA

temperatures varying from -8C to -70C is a ordable for

transportation of vaccine, it added all operators
engaged in transporting vaccines must establish
maximum quantity of dry ice that can be loaded in
their cargo holds or passenger cabins. As per the DGCA
directives, authorised airlines can carry vaccines in dry
ice in the passenger cabin or cargo hold.

Passengers won’t be allowed on board if vaccines are

being transported in the passenger cabin.

Meanwhile, Delhi airport has equipped the cargo

terminals with special temperature-controlled areas,
su icient availability of cool dollies on the airside
(where an aircraft lands), and dedicated loading areas
along with entry and exit gates for smooth ow of
vehicles. Pune airport, too, is prepared to ensure the
smooth transfer of vaccines.

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1/12/2021 Air India | Covid Vaccination: Air India to play key role in India’s Covid vaccination drive

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1/12/2021 Air India | Covid Vaccination: Air India to play key role in India’s Covid vaccination drive

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