PLA mobilizes planes for medical transport

The People's Liberation Army Air Force used eight of its large transport planes on Sunday morning to ferry medics and supplies from the military to Wuhan, capital of Hubei province and epicenter of the novel coronavirus outbreak.

The eight aircraft, from an aviation division of the Air Force's branch in the PLA Central Theater Command, carried 795 medical personnel from armed forces and 58 metric tons of equipment and materials from Shenyang, Lanzhou, Guangzhou and Nanjing and landed them at Wuhan Tianhe International Airport.

This has been the largest non-military operation of the Air Force's transport aircraft fleet since April 2010, when military transport planes were deployed in an earthquake-aid task in Qinghai province.

Pictures published by the Air Force showed all planes are Russian-developed Ilyushin Il-76s.

Aircraft from the aviation division also transported three medical support teams from the military on Jan 24, the eve of Chinese New Year.

Wu Peixin, an aviation observer in Beijing, said Sunday's operation showed the Air Force's capability to mobilize and deploy a large transport unit on short notice.

"It showed the crews are well-trained and prepared to respond to emergencies and difficult missions like this," he said.