Vistara joins COVID-19 vaccine transportation drive, carries shipments to various destinations

MUMBAI: Vistara, a joint venture airline of the Tata Group and Singapore Airlines, also joined the COVID-19 vaccine transportation drive in the country on Wednesday, carrying multiple shipments to various destinations including a flight to Varanasi from Mumbai.

Vistara is actively participating in transportation of COVID-19 vaccines and collaborating with the government approved suppliers, the Delhi-based airline said in a statement.

As part of this, the airline carried multiple shipments of the vaccines on various routes on Wednesday, it said.

According to Vistara, it airlifted four boxes (weighing 90.5 kg) of Covaxin, the indigenous coronavirus vaccine developed by Bharat Biotech, to Delhi from Hyderabad on its flight UK 860.

Vistara also operated a flight to Varanasi, which transported 16 boxes (weighing 512 kg) of Covishield from Mumbai's Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport on Wednesday, it said.

Covishield is developed by Oxford University and British-Swedish company AstraZeneca and manufactured by Pune-based pharma firm Serum Institute of India (SII).

Earlier in the day, budget carrier GoAir was the first airline to commence vaccine transportation from the city airport, a day after a massive pan-India inoculation drive against COVID-19 was set in process with more than 56 lakh doses of the Covishield vaccine leaving Pune for 13 cities across the country, four days before the vaccinations are scheduled to begin on January 16.

GoAir's first flight carrying 2,400 vials (24,000 doses) of Covishield vaccine took off at 5.20 am on Wednesday and reached Goa at 6.30 am.

The Wadia Group-owned no-frills airline has scheduled flights carrying a total of 69,600 vials of the vaccines to Lucknow, Cochin and Chandigarh, besides Goa, during the day, according to the airline.