The rows of seats in the cabin and the storage compartments above the seats were also packed to accommodate the 6,000 or so boxes in the A330 passenger aircraft. The freight was received by the Hessian State Minister for Economic Affairs, Energy, Transport and Housing, Tarek Al-Wazir, and the State Minister for Social Affairs and Integration, Kai Klose, and reloaded onto pallets for onward transportation by DB Schenker employees on site. The Hessian Ministry of Economics, Energy, Transport and Housing will now distribute the goods to hospitals, emergency services and other facilities to combat the spread of the coronavirus.

"We are delighted that we were able to procure additional protective masks for Hesse. When we learned that millions of face masks that we had ordered from B. Braun Melsungen were just waiting in China to be flown to Frankfurt, we made sure that they were transported to Hesse as quickly as possible," said Minister of Economic Affairs Tarek Al-Wazir and Minister of Health Kai Klose. "We are very pleased that Lufthansa Cargo provided a passenger aircraft so quickly. Our thanks also go to DB Schenker for the logistical handling."

"We are very pleased that this short-term and pragmatic solution was possible in close cooperation with all those involved. In this way, we were able to make a joint contribution to protecting employees in the healthcare sector," emphasized B. Braun CEO Anna Maria Braun. "This also helps us in the company to ensure the production of urgently needed infusion solutions and medical consumables," added Braun.

"In difficult times, we remain capable of acting for our customers at all times. That's what it's all about now and we are proud that we were able to demonstrate this once again with such an important freight as B. Braun Melsungen's medical products," says Thorsten Meincke, Member of the Management Board for Air and Ocean Freight at DB Schenker. "With our network of own locations in almost 140 countries and strong partners all over the world, our employees keep the supply chains together day and night. That is a really strong performance."

Peter Gerber, CEO of Lufthansa Cargo AG, said after the handover: "The use of another passenger aircraft exclusively for freight transportation shows that we are doing everything we can to ensure the supply chain: We are doing everything we can to strengthen supply security by air. This is part of our corporate responsibility.