On 17 February, two Kalitta Air Boeing 747’s departed Tokyo Haneda Airport, Japan, flight tracking app Flightradar24 reported. Their mission is to evacuate passengers from The Diamond Princess, a cruise ship that has been stranded in Yokohama after a major on board outbreak of the Corona virus.
One Boeing 747 freighter will fly to Kelly Field, an air force base located in San Antonio, Texas, United States. The second Boeing 747 will operate to Travis Air Force Base in Solano County, California. Passengers on board will not directly meet their families and relatives but are obliged to go into quarantine and further testing.
For the occasion, the aircraft are equipped with special seats. In normal operations, these aircraft are a huge cargo bay (see images here).
Flights evacuating people back to the US from the #DiamondPrincess are now departing Tokyo. #K4581 https://t.co/VudRkgooRX#K4585 https://t.co/AfjiJFDkhA pic.twitter.com/u9cu9b80i1
— Flightradar24 (@flightradar24) February 16, 2020
Kalitta Air Boeing 747-400 freighter repatriates U.S. citizens from Wuhan, China
“the aircraft are equipped with special seats”… thanks to the US govmt..;|) I don’t think they would have sent Air Force 1…
Easier to disinfect plastic seats.