Air India airlifts nearly 34,200 kg of Zeolite from Rome to Bengaluru

Two Air India flights, carrying 34,200 kg of Zeolite from Rome, arrived at the Kempegowda International Airport, Bengaluru, on May 16. This is the first of the many batches of Zeolite that would be imported by the government of India to generate oxygen.

This will give a fillip to oxygen supplies in the country amid the Covid-19 pandemic. India has been badly hit by the second wave of the novel coronavirus infection as hospitals in several states are reeling under the shortage of health workers, vaccines, oxygen and drugs.

“The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) is the charterer for the zeolite consignments,” Air India said in a statement. Additionally, the national carrier is going to airlift zeolite mineral for DRDO from multiple locations across the world during the coming weeks.

“Seven charter flights have been scheduled between May 15-18 from Rome to Bengaluru. This will be followed by eight charter flights from Korea to Bengaluru between May 19-22.

“Further, we have uplift from USA through our existing scheduled flights from EWR (Newark Liberty International Airport) between May 20-25. Next part of this exercise is from Brussels, Tokyo and again USA, in the following weeks,” the statement stated.

Zeolite is used in oxygen production plants that are based on pressure swing adsorption (PSA) technology.