KUALA LUMPUR, March 30 — MABkargo, the cargo arm of Malaysia Airlines Bhd (MAB), will be flying in more than 10 million pieces of masks as well as ventilators from Shanghai and Guangzhou, China, in the next few days, said group chief executive officer Captain Izham Ismail.

He said this is made possible by the National Disaster Management Agency (NADMA), the Transport Ministry and Pharmaniaga Bhd.

"Together with our sister airlines under the Malaysia Aviation Group, we support Malaysia’s Ministry of Health (MOH) with dedicated belly space across our domestic and international networks and on MABkargo’s global freighter network for the transport of medical devices and supplies,” he said in a statement today.

Since the enactment of the movement control order in Malaysia, Malaysia Airlines has had to reduce its domestic frequencies and schedules.

It said it is running at a minimum level, mostly to facilitate essential travels and cargo movement.

Domestically, Izham said, Malaysia Airlines, Firefly and MASwings facilitate movement of goods as well as medical staff across Peninsular Malaysia, crossings and within Sabah and Sarawak.

The three airlines have also positioned standby aircraft at Subang Airport, Kuala Lumpur International Airport and Kota Kinabalu International Airport to initiate rapid mobilisation of medical staff and professionals as well as other non-Covid-19 patients to support MOH’s capacity/resource management efforts across Malaysia.

Most recently, MABkargo transported two tonnes of face masks and personal protection equipment from Kuala Lumpur to Kota Kinabalu.

It also flew 300,000 pieces of disposable masks, 50,000 pieces of protection suit and 8,000 pieces of protection suit with eye mask courtesy of the Jack Ma Foundation and Alibaba Foundation from Shanghai to Kuala Lumpur. — Bernama