American Airlines Boing 777-300 wide-body aircraft as seen on final approach over the houses of Myrtle Ave, for landing at London Heathrow LHR EGLL International airport in England, UK. The B777 airplane has the registration N718AN and is powered by 2x GE jet engines. American Airlines AA AAL is the world’s largest airline carrier based with headquarters and hub in Fort Worth, Texas.
Nicolas Economou | NurPhoto | Getty Images
American Airlines flew its first shipment of vaccines on Sunday, joining United Airlines in helping transport doses that executives say will be key to the industry’s recovery.
American said Monday that it flew a Boeing 777 between its hubs in Chicago O’Hare International Airport and Miami and that the vaccines would land in a “U.S. territory in the Caribbean later today.” A spokeswoman for the carrier declined to disclose the destination.
American operated stress test flights last month to make sure its network and supply chain could handle temperature and other requirements to ship the vaccine.
United last month started flying a series of flights to transport vaccines on its largest aircraft between Brussels and its Chicago hub. Passenger airlines are working alongside shipping giants like FedEx and UPS in distributing the vaccines.
