On Wednesday , April 29 , and after several calendar week of preparation , LATAM Airlines Ecuador bear out its first seat containers flight to Miami . The utilization of rider aircraft for cargo transportation in its cabin allow for the company to bear on supporting its node ’ exports and import and to mitigate the minus effects COVID-19 ’s restrictions have had on its operation .
This projection was especially take exception for LATAM Ecuador ’s squad . Even though Chile and Peru had already carried this out , a team in Ecuador , composed of more than 25 people ( from operations , maintenance , safe , airport , crew and loading areas ) , consider the logistics during several weeks . This path , after intensive work , 38.5 ton were load on and in between the seats , in the hand baggage compartments and in the airplane ’s abdomen . The flowers were placed in the cabin ( 5.5 heaps ) , and the remaining 33 stacks ( seeds and Salmon River ) were placed in the venter .
“ The efforts we are pee-pee at LATAM so as to keep give way are impressive . Even though our capacity has been bound , we are working intensively to mitigate these event . We have maximized the use of our merchant ship fleet , quickly modified our itineraries and begin use our passenger aircraft exclusively for cargo shipping . We are transporting production from Ecuador to the world , which benefits the rural area ’s thriftiness and one thousand of the great unwashed that depend on these product reaching their destination . We transport dream and our own is to not give up and continue flying to support Ecuador ” , said Daniel Leng , LATAM Airlines Ecuador ’s Executive Director .
On the other hand , captain Carlos Eguez — LATAM Airlines Ecuador ’s Operations Director — mentioned that the 5.5 loads introduced in Boeing 767 ’s rider cabin were loaded under all the safety measures call for by this Quito - Miami escape . to boot , he acknowledged that this escape was very innovative for the company “ Not long ago , we transported passenger in our cabins , but in sparkle of the crisis the manufacture is experiencing and the res publica ’s motive , we have converted our passenger airplanes into single cargo fare airplanes ” , he mention .
As in most other nation , Ecuador ’s export and signification markets have been affected . Exports have decrease by 70 % as of mid - March ( weeks prior to COVID-19 ’s effects ) , and US and European markets have been the most touched . However , the state ’s export movement still remains . Flowers continue to be Ecuador ’s chief exportation commodity ( 90 % ) , followed by balsa Grant Wood ( 5 % ) and pitahaya ( 5 % ) .
Meanwhile , the main products go into the country are manufactured goods and medicament . However , a downward vogue near 50%–compared to the same period in 2019 — has been reveal as a consequence of COVID-19 ’s international effects .
For more data : LATAM Cargowww.latamcargo.com
