Air Malta has operated its longest and farthest charter flight, to Rwanda’s capital, Kigali, carrying 135,690 AstraZeneca vaccines donated by the Government of Malta to the African nation.
The seven-hour direct flight departed Malta at 2:00am on Friday morning and landed at Kigali at 9:00am, covering a 2426nm distance to Rwanda’s capital.
Flight KM7510 was flown by the airline’s youngest Airbus A320neo aircraft (9H-NED). Such long-distance non-stop flights can now be operated with the airline’s new A320neo aircraft fleet that offers additional range, 20% lower fuel costs, are more environmentally friendly and have a 50% less noise footprint then the older Airbus A320ceo models.
During the pandemic the airline was also instrumental to the Maltese Islands by carrying hundreds of tons of cargo that included vaccines, medicines, medical supplies, and personal protective equipment.
The airline has also taken an active role to assist the Maltese government with distribution of covid vaccines abroad. Last August the airline transported 40,000 vaccines and a similar number of rapid testing kits to Libya.
By Victor Shalton Odhiambo
