Wizz Air delivered 11 tons of coronavirus medical equipment, including protective gear and test kits, from Shanghai to Budapest on Monday, following a request from the Hungarian Government.

 Travelling 9000km in total, the flight took over 50 hours to complete, including refuelling stops in Kazakhstan and Russia.

The mission was carried out on an Airbus A321neo, which boosts 15 per cent improved fuel efficiency compared to previous models, enabling longer journeys and reduced emissions with the same amount of fuel.

The Hungarian government plans further flights in partnership with Wizz Air to deliver medical equipment to Hungary to help treat patients and slow down the spread of coronavirus.

CEO of Wizz Air, József Váradi, said: “It’s an honour and privilege that the government of Hungary chose Wizz Air to complete this crucial mission of delivering protective equipment and medical test kits from China in its vital effort to contain the coronavirus.

In these tough times, we are doing everything we can to play our part in the fight against the outbreak.

“I would like to express my gratitude to all the government officials and my colleagues at Wizz Air who took part in this special mission, working tirelessly to gain the required permits and bringing home the equipment so efficiently.”

Last week, Wizz Air announced that it had seen capacity reduce by 30 per cent year-on-year for March 2020 because of the current travel restrictions across Europe to cope with the coronavirus pandemic and the subsequent decline in demand for air travel.

The low-cost carrier was forced to cancel more than 50 routes from Luton airport on 25 March because of the travel restrictions imposed across Europe due to the coronavirus outbreak. Services will be shut down until 1 May with the exception of a limited number of repatriation flights.

Following the reduction of their fleets, many airlines are loaning their aircraft for coronavirus relief efforts, including Aegean Airlines, which announced that it will be operating free cargo flights to ship medical and pharmaceutical supplies around the world.