At Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) is a plane that will make the maiden flight, carrying Covid-19 vaccine doses from India to Kenya.
The plane by Astral Aviation Ltd can fly home up to 25 million doses of the vaccine in a single trip.
An engineer at Astral tells HealthyNation their planes have the best modern technology to supply vaccines.
"The B767-200 Freighter has special temperature controls that go up to – 40 degrees Celsius. When the aircraft is flying high at 40,000 feet, the temperatures go up to – 60 degrees Celsius, but the inside of the plane remains warmer and, therefore, the pilots can adjust temperatures accordingly," says engineer John Owuor, adding that they are putting final touches on their Boeing 767-200F ahead of the flight.
The plane that will make the maiden trip has thermal blankets used to cover vaccines when they are being moved to storage facilities upon arrival, so that the temperature does not drop.
In an exclusive interview with HealthyNation, Sanjeev Gadhia, Astral Aviation CEO, assures that they are ready to deliver the vaccines. "Our cold storage facility at JKIA can hold up to 100 million doses of vaccines," says the CEO.
A recent study by Kenya Airports Authority, Swissport, ACHL, Mitchell Cotts, Siginon and Astral shows the total capacity of cold storage facilities at JKIA is 8,621 square metres (+2 to +8 degrees Celsius ) and 418 square metres ( -15 to -20 degrees Celsius).
This means the Nairobi airport can store up to 200 million single doses of vaccines at any given time. "Given that JKIA has the most efficient cool-chain infrastructure for the storage of vaccines in transit to the rest of Africa, it would be viable if the Covax facility lets us distribute to the rest of the countries from Nairobi," proposes Gadhia.
Equitable access
Last week, Kenya Airways (KQ) lost the deal to distribute Covid-19 vaccines around the world after Unicef settled on Astral Aviation, Ethiopian Airways and others.
The deal is part of Unicef’s humanitarian airfreight initiative to support efforts to provide equitable access to the vaccines across the world.It brings together airlines covering routes to over 100 countries in support of the Covax facility – the global effort aimed at ensuring equitable access to Covid-19 vaccines.The other airlines are AirBridgeCargo, Air France KLM Martinair, Brussels Airlines, Cargolux, Cathay Pacific, Emirates SkyCargo, Etihad Cargo, Ethiopian Airlines Cargo, IAG Cargo, Korean Air, Lufthansa Cargo, Qatar Airways, […]
