The first shipment of personal protective equipment will arrive in Ireland from China today.
Aer Lingus is flying its biggest aircraft to pick up the supplies with the first up to 60 voyages setting off yesterday, the Irish Mirror understands.
It comes after 90 of its pilots this week secured visas and have volunteered to spend over 24 hours on the airline's Airbus A330s to carry out the operation.
The first crew made up of five pilots left for Beijing from Dublin Airport at 10.20am on Saturday morning, on flight EI9018, to pick up essential equipment needed by HSE staff in the fight against Covid-19.
Aer Lingus will pack its planes with 600 tonnes of much needed personal protective equipment, masks and coronavirus testing kits over the next two weeks.
The Chinese Embassy in Ireland revealed it waived fees for all 90 pilots participating and committed to trying to secure landing slots for the flights in Beijing.
The front section of the plane will be sectioned off for the staff to rest. No cabin crew workers are expected to travel.
A tweet shared by the Department of Foreign Affairs on Saturday evening show pallets of equipment stacked high in a Chinese warehouse.
A video shows Irish Ambassador to China Eoin O'Leary thanking Mr MU Hong, General Manager of the Resources Group for his assistance.
Minister for Health Simon Harris said the HSE would begin distributing the masks, gowns and eye shields as early as this evening.
The HSE has spent over €200 million on PPE in response to the crisis as healthcare workers across the country revealed they were in dire need of supplies.
There is a gobal shortage of PPE due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
