Italian aircraft manufacturer Tecnam has partnered with ultra-freezer manufacturer Desmon to repurpose the P2012 Special Mission Platform for Covid vaccine transportation.
The aircraft was developed to help distributors worldwide reach even the most remote and hardly accessible communities, including areas with underdeveloped transport infrastructure, to ensure timely and equitable delivery of help.
Tecnam’s P2012 TravelCare is equipped with Desmon’s ultra-freezer designed to attain, maintain and track product temperature, and can transport as many as 115,000 vaccines to areas with less than 1,850ft of paved or unpaved runway.
The vaccines will be stored at extreme temperatures as required by the manufacturers: -86°C during transport and -65°C for 10-12h after the system is unplugged for further distribution.
Tecnam’s Managing Director Giovanni Pascale Langer said: “As the first vaccine breakthroughs were announced, we realised that the communities in remote areas would face delays in receiving help. 67% of European airports alone have runways shorter than 5,000ft, making them inaccessible to large aircraft.
“The P2012 TravelCare is our contribution to the fight for a Covid-free world.
“With the dedicated support of our partners at Desmon, we worked tirelessly to repurpose the P2012 aircraft and meet all the necessary regulations for this special mission within less than a month.
“The value of the P2012 platform will extend beyond this mission. Today, it will facilitate the vaccine transportation, tomorrow it will continue to serve communities thanks to its versatility and easy (re)configuration.”
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