Turkish Cargo ups capacity to carry anti-virus supplies

By Tuba Sahin

ANKARA (AA) - Turkish Cargo, a division of Turkey’s national flag carrier Turkish Airlines, has boosted its capacity to prevent any supply chain disruption so it can carry critically important medical freight amid the coronavirus pandemic.

"As the global repercussions of the unprecedented situation caused by the COVID-19 outbreak continue, Turkish Cargo, with the world’s sixth-largest cargo capacity, has started to operate cargo flights with Turkish Airlines’ passenger aircraft in addition to its flights with 25 high-capacity freighters," the company said on Wednesday.

Turkish Cargo added 14,500 tons of extra capacity to and from Turkey with 167 additional freighter flights.

After carrying out first cargo flights with passenger aircraft last week on the Istanbul-Kiev route, Turkish Cargo is set to operate cargo flights to Bucharest, Tel Aviv, Amsterdam, London, Paris, Amman, Beirut, and Dubai, thus adding 5,000 tons of additional capacity.

The cargo carrier already started to bring test kits from China that can give results in just 15 minutes.

After emerging in Wuhan, China last December, the coronavirus has spread to at least 170 countries and regions, according to the data compiled by the U.S.-based Johns Hopkins University.

Out of more than 423,000 confirmed cases worldwide, the death toll now nears 19,000, while over 108,000 have recovered. The World Health Organization has declared COVID-19 a pandemic.