star

Ethiopian Airlines is taking the lead among African airlines by transporting the continent’s first doses of the Covid-19 vaccine, which arrived on a cargo flight from Beijing to Addis Ababa over the weekend. The flight was the culmination of large investments Ethiopian has made in its pharmaceutical and temperature-controlled transport facilities. The carrier operated a cargo flight from Beijing to Addis Ababa with vaccines en route to N’Djamena, the capital of Chad, carrying doses of the Sinovac Chinese Covid-19 vaccine. Unlike the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines being used in the the US and much of the West, the Chinese-developed vaccine can be stored at ordinary refrigerator temperatures. The Pfizer and Moderna vaccines require storage at -70 and -20 degrees Celsius, respectively. But even the Sinovac vaccine’s less onerous requirements pose logistical challenges in a region with poor infrastructure. In anticipation of Covid vaccine transport, Ethiopian Airlines last year invested in its Pharma Wing, a temperature-controlled facility capable of handling cold storage and local transport. Key to vaccine transport is maintaining the “cold chain,” or controlling the temperature of a shipment from point of manufacture, on the aircraft, and through ground shipment on both ends of the journey. The company also launched cargo flights to Asia via Anchorage.<br/>

Swiss has walked away from labour talks with pilot union Aeropers and terminated a collective agreement with the body amid a dispute over planned restructuring in response to the pandemic. The Lufthansa Group subsidiary intends to reduce its fleet as demand is projected not to recover to pre-crisis levels for years, and says that “Aeropers is unwilling to commit to adequate contributions” to the plan. “Swiss will have a significant surplus of pilots in the next few years,” the airline says. It asserts that the talks with Aeropers, which began in August 2020, were aimed at reaching a “new and forward-looking collective labour agreement which would be aligned to the demands of the difficult crisis years ahead”. The existing labour agreement, the carrier adds, “is not suited to either the challenges of the coronavirus crisis or the re-establishment of the company in an uncertain and volatile future”. The union, on the other hand, wanted to discuss only temporary measures under the existing labour agreement, Swiss says. “Without substantial contributions and an expanded scope of action during the coronavirus crisis, we believe it would be irresponsible from a corporate and a business perspective to retain the present collective labour agreement,” states COO Thomas Frick.<br/>

Air NZ’s CE has confirmed the airline has terminated its contract with the Saudi military and the job will be returned as incomplete. Greg Foran said Air NZ was reviewing the process that led to the contract being signed. TVNZ revealed on Sunday that an Air New Zealand subsidiary worked on two engines and one power turbine module from vessels belonging to the Saudi Navy through a third-party contract. The Saudi Navy has been enforcing a blockade on the country of Yemen, stopping food and medicine getting to the war-torn country. PM Jacinda Ardern said she had asked the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to look into the revelation Air NZ helped the Saudi Arabian navy. The Government owns a majority stake in the airline. Ardern said she learnt of the matter on Sunday because of a media request and said the contract was completely inappropriate. She said there was a question mark over whether it breached New Zealand export requirements, and she was asking the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MFAT) to look into the matter. Air New Zealand CEO Greg Foran apologised for the incident on Tuesday and said he was only made aware of it recently.<br/>