Boeing completed its first COVID-19 transport mission, using a 737-700 aircraft from its corporate fleet to bring personal protective equipment (PPE) from China to the United States. Working in partnership with FIRST® Robotics Founder Dean Kamen, the company transported 540,000 medical-grade face masks that will be delivered to healthcare professionals battling COVID-19 in New Hampshire. Kamen worked with DEKA to secure the face masks from manufacturers in China and turned to Boeing to facilitate their transport.
Boeing completed another COVID-19 transport mission, using a Boeing Dreamlifter to bring personal protective equipment (PPE) from Hong Kong to the United States. Working in partnership with Prisma Health, Atlas Air Worldwide and Discommon Founder Neil Ferrier, the company transported 1.5 million medical-grade face masks bound for healthcare professionals at Prisma Health in South Carolina. Additional airlift transport missions with the Boeing Dreamlifter and ecoDemonstrator are planned in the future.
Boeing delivered a set of reusable 3D-printed face shields to support healthcare professionals working to stop the spread of COVID-19. The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) accepted the initial shipment of 2,300 face shields. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) will deliver the shields to the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center in Dallas, Texas, which has been established as an alternate care site to treat patients with COVID-19.
Boeing is set to produce thousands more face shields per week, gradually increasing production output to meet the growing need for Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) in the United States. Boeing is producing face shields with additive manufacturing machines at company sites across the U.S. To date, the company has donated tens of thousands of units of PPE – including face masks, goggles, gloves, safety glasses and protective bodysuits – to support healthcare professionals battling COVID-19 in some of the hardest-hit locations in the United States.
As of May 11, 2020, Boeing completed another set of COVID-19 airlift missions, deploying three Dreamlifter aircraft to transport more than 150,000 protective eye goggles and face shields from China to the United States. Boeing worked in partnership with the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) to deliver the personal protective equipment (PPE) to frontline health care professionals in the MUSC system.