6 April 2020: In their fight against COVID-19, Airbus flight test crew completed their latest mission with an A350-1000 test aircraft between Europe and China. The aircraft returned to France with a cargo of 4 million face masks on 5th April.
In the 3rd such mission the aircraft left Toulouse on 3rd April and reached the Airbus site in Tianjin on 4th April. It returned to Hamburg the same day with the cargo.
Since mid-March, the previous two missions were performed by an A330-800 and an A330 Multi-Role Tanker Transport (MRTT). Airbus also deployed an A400M and its Beluga fleet to transport shipments of masks between its European sites, in France, Germany, the UK and Spain.
"I would like to pay tribute to all the Airbus teams, globally, supporting the fight against COVID-19. They're living our values in assisting those who are saving lives every day", said Guillaume Faury, Airbus CEO. "
Thus, Airbus continues to purchase and supply millions of face masks from China, the large majority of which will be donated to governments of the Airbus home countries, namely France, Germany, Spain and the UK.