Two Air India flights arrived at Bengaluru Airport on May 16, loaded with 34,200 kg of Zeolite, all the way from Rome.
This is the first of the many batches of Zeolite that would be imported by the Government of India to generate oxygen. It will give the much needed fillip to oxygen supplies in the country amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Zeolite is used in oxygen production plants that are based on Pressure Swing Adsorption (PSA) technology.
“The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) is the charterer for the Zeolite consignments,” Air India had said in a statement.
Additionally, the national carrier is going to airlift zeolite mineral for DRDO from multiple locations across the world during the coming weeks.
Seven charter flights have been scheduled between May 15-18 from Rome to Bengaluru. This will be followed by eight charter flights from Korea to Bengaluru between May 19-22.
“Further, we have uplift from USA through our existing scheduled flights from Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR) between May 20-25. Next part of this exercise is from Brussels, Tokyo and again USA, in the following weeks,” the airline had added.