Aer Lingus to get €30 million from the Irish government for operating PPE flights
The Irish airline Aer Lingus is all set to receive around €115,000 for each of the 259 flights it operated to and from Beijing during the coronavirus pandemic from the Irish Health Service Executive.
The airline was hired to transport much-needed supplies of personal protective equipment (PPE) to Ireland from China and over a period of some 14 weeks the carrier operated up to 5 flights a day. The airline carried some 4,000 tonnes of PPE - that's more than 86 million items between March 29th and June 26th, flying around 4.75 million km's during the operation.
The airline has invoiced the Health Service Executive for €30.3 million for the flights according to official files released after a Freedom of Information (FOI) request, as reported in The Irish Times. The airline, part of IAG, has already been €7.2 million and is waiting for a further €23.1 million to be paid.
According to the HSE "The transportation of this PPE in a timely manner was critical and necessary to the pandemic response. The HSE agreed - terms with Aer Lingus, our national carrier, to open a standing air-bridge between Dublin and Beijing on a cost-plus basis.
"A value for money review has been conducted by HSE and the rates proposed by Aer Lingus were considered competitive in the circumstances."
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