Gonzalo Sánchez
07/06/2020 - 7:00
- Clarín.com
- Society
It may be paradoxical, but China, the same country that spawned the pandemic, has become the planet's health supermarket. Shanghai airport is now a post that does not stop receiving cargo planes from different countries. The ships land and in a swift action, which takes no more than 6 hours, take off again loaded with medical supplies. Aerolineas Argentinas has already sent 36 flights of this type. These were trips announced aloud by the Government, but which were finally carried out silently while the different phases of the quarantine passed. Asian missions did not stop until today. The visual result of this process is that hospitals, especially in the Province of Buenos Aires, are full of boxes written in Mandarin with essential elements for doctors and nurses to go through the daily drama of patients and internees.
The global number of imported material exceeds 600 tons. But the Government still owes a detailed detail of each element and of the way in which it was distributed by the Argentine health system. Also everything was paid. There is no traceability of the material brought to the country in emergency. But yes enough loose data.
For example, a document from the Ministry of Health, to which Clarín agreed, shows that 3 million surgical chins were paid to Argentina, paid US $ 1,620,000; 300 thousand water repellent medical protection coveralls that cost US $ 6,660,000; 20,000 common protection coveralls for US $ 238,200; 1,800,000 triple fold chinstraps (surgical) for US $ 660,000; 200 thousand protective masks for US $ 400 thousand; 625 thousand surgical masks for US $ 300 thousand; another batch of 12,500 protective overalls for $ 273,500; 625 thousand N. 95 chinstraps that cost US $ 1,550,000; a batch of 12,500 goggles at a total cost of US $ 47,250; and 1,250,000 pairs of latex gloves worth US $ 225,000.
Aerolineas Argentinas to China flights
All lots correspond to direct contract purchases. Products arriving in the country must always be approved by ANMAT.
An unspecified number of PCR and serological test kits also arrived on the Aerolineas Argentinas medical flights. The history of the donation made by Petroquímica Cuyo, which disbursed US $ 700,000 to buy the Livzon rapid tests in China, is well known. 170,000 kits arrived in the country. Each kit (which includes two tests) cost $ 4. They were the tests that began to be carried out in train stations to detect the level of circulation of the virus (and whose effectiveness was questioned) . They are still used, but with less emphasis, as the Detect Plan progresses in parallel.
Mission. The 17 crew of the flag carrier before the 60-hour flight to China.jpeg
A machine for making chinstraps was unloaded from one of the first flights in front of the governor of the province of Buenos Aires, Axel Kiciloff. An unspecified number of respirators also dropped from the Airbus 330. A clarification: in mid-June it emerged that the fate of 10 respirators donated by the Chinese company Ali Baba to Argentina is unknown. This shortage has not yet been explained by the Government. But these machines, that is to say, were not brought to the country within the framework of the scheduled missions of Airlines, but in the previous days.
The deputy Graciela Ocaña, head of the Health Commission of the Chamber of Deputies, promoted a request for reports so that the Ministry of Health presents the details of all the tests that the Ministry of Health has received through purchases or donations. She also asked that in relation to the rest of the inputs received, she should report how many donations have been received by the Chinese government. Also to detail how they have been distributed throughout the country and to list how many flights have been made to search for donations to China and the cost of such operations.
Aerolineas Argentinas to China flights
Health authorities have given vague answers on all these aspects. From the health minister, Ginés González García, to the chief of staff, Santiago Cafiero, everyone spoke without abounding in details and fine print. Clarín also asked for these data, but from the Government they suggested that a request be made for access to public information through the Internet, a valid mechanism but one that requires patience. The Aerolineas Argentinas authorities were receptive to collaborate with the details of the operation to China. But they preferred to reserve the full cost of the mission, which is still ongoing.
THE FLIGHTS
They are more than 60 hours above the plane. Every two or three days, an Airbus A330 departs from Ezeiza to Shanghai on a route based on specific safety criteria.
They cross the empty sky. They say that the radar shows no movement. There is no commercial traffic. The technical stops to load fuel are identical to the scales that a long distance trip to the interior makes. But there are no drivers who stretch their legs in paradores, but air travelers who wait on the side of the runway while they fill the tank for the ship to continue.
Airports are petrified. There are no passengers who go like ants, nor aircraft that land and others leave. Juan Pablo Mazzei made two trips to China. "The peculiarity," he says, "is given by the number of hours that the crews stay on top of the plane. They are flights that are made above everything that is regulated ”.
Aerolineas Argentinas to China flights
Regulations are violated due to the global emergency. "Beyond the union and political issues for which the company has made headlines, there is the idea of Airlines as a strategic tool for situations like this," says Mazzei.
There were three possible routes to go in search of the material: via Rome, via South Africa, via Auckland. The longest, the least comfortable and the most expensive were chosen. The first was ruled out because at the time the Europe mission began, it was crossing the peak of the pandemic. The second because the corridor does not comply with the regulations that for a twin-engine Airbus 330 there must always be an alternative security airport within 180 minutes. They chose the third: the safest.
Airline pilots about to take off from Shanghai to return to the country.
It flies most of the time at night , to the west, following the sun. There are always four pilots in front of the ship. The rest, dressed in civilian clothes, rest outside the cabin. Fueling in Auckland takes no more than two hours. When they arrive in Shanghai, the Argentine envoys must completely cover themselves with white antivirus suits and stay on the track, while a dispatch company is in charge of loading the plane with the medical supplies. They practically do not enter China.
The first flight returned to the country with 13 tons. After that mission, the A330s were stripped of economy class seats and gained capacity: they increased 21 tons on average per trip. The Chinese boxes are labeled with a phrase by Martín Fierro in Spanish: "Brothers be united because that is the first law . "
Gustavo Caponelli, who has been working for Aerolineas Argentinas for 31 years, insists on the idea of heaven without traffic. He does not remember a similar scenario. “It is a strange flight due to its complications but it is not heroic. Not uncommon. It takes more programming work than anything else. The only discomfort is that of staying: you get off the plane to do a little leg stretch and you continue, "he explains.
In China, they wait at most six hours for the plane to load and return home. "But we just wait, calm on the track," says Caponelli. "The company has hired another company that deals with everything; it attends to us from the moment we arrive until we leave. But I would almost say that with the Chinese it is minimal contact, "says Caponelli and insists:" Back and forth, we perceive that everything is dead. The world looks different. "And the planes too. Packed with boxes instead of passengers.
