Delhi airport set to receive first consignment of Covishield vaccines arriving from Pune today

On Tuesday i.e. today morning, the first lot of Covid-19 vaccine would arrive at Delhi airport from Pune aboard a SpiceJet flight. Later in the day, an Air India flight is expected to fly in another consignment of the vaccines to Delhi from Pune.

The SpiceJet flight SG8937 departed the Pune airport at 8.05 am and landed at Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport by 10.15 am. At the Delhi airport, a team of officials from the Airport Authority of India, the ministry of civil aviation, the health ministry, the Delhi airport, and the Central Industrial Security Force officers received the vaccines that will be transported to designated hospitals in GPS-enabled trucks.

All preparations were made at the cargo terminals at the airport and staff received the vaccine which was later stored in temperature-control units. The Delhi Police was in charge to maintain arrangements outside the airport so as to facilitate speedy and smooth movement of vaccines to the hospitals.

Ajay Singh, chairman, and managing director, SpiceJet, said the first consignment of Covishield consisted 34 boxes and weighed 1088kg. “I am happy to share that SpiceJet carried India’s first consignment of Covid-19 vaccines today [Tuesday]. We will be carrying multiple vaccine consignments to different Indian cities including Guwahati, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Bhubaneswar, Bengaluru, Patna, and Vijayawada throughout the day today,” Singh said.

He added that SpiceJet is fully committed and prepared to transport the Covid-19 vaccine both within and outside India. “Today marks the beginning of a long and decisive phase in India’s fight against the pandemic and SpiceJet is proud to assist in the biggest vaccination drive in the history of mankind,” he added.