- Fifteen round trips between Nantes and Shanghai were carried out with 3.5 million masks on board.
- Behind this operation hides the Vendée company Prolaser, specialized in recyclable ink cartridges.
- Air Caraïbes operated the flights with a large airliner.
It did not go unnoticed given its size. It was, moreover, one of the only airliners to cross the Nantes sky. An imposing Airbus A350-1000 belonging to the company Air Caraïbes has multiplied the round trips between Nantes-Atlantique and Shanghai (China) in recent weeks. No passengers on board but a precious commodity: masks (surgical or KNG5) in large quantities. No less than 3.5 million on each flight, loaded in the hold and in the cabin!
Begun in mid-May, this astonishing "airlift", led by six volunteer pilots, has just ended. Fifteen rotations were carried out for a total of 50 million masks sent. “We were the only non-scheduled French airline to have obtained authorization to fly from China. We had to convince the authorities. It was a real challenge, ”said Mathieu Munos, director of Air Caraïbes, who had never carried out such an operation.
"We had a nine in ten chance of breaking her face"
Behind this performance hides the company Prolaser, a Vendée company that nothing predestined this story since it specializes in ... recycling ink cartridges. "We import a lot of products in China and we were therefore made aware of the coronavirus before it arrived in France," says Jean-Marc Aubineau, CEO of Prolaser. Our teams on site advised us to be careful and to order masks for our 180 employees through its network. At that time we realized that masks were missing everywhere in France, that the State and the communities did not find them. So we offered our services, through Bruno Retailleau [Senator LR]. "
This is how Prolaser became one of the ten suppliers approved by the French State in just a few days. And found itself managing a total order of around 200 million masks, intended for hospitals, nursing homes and communities. “We had nine chances in ten to break our faces, considers Jean-Marc Aubineau. We had to overcome authorization problems, availability problems since the mask factories were taken by storm, freight problems since all the cargo planes were reserved… ”
"We now have an experience to promote"
The collaboration with Air Caraïbes was born on this occasion. “On April 1, when Orly airport was closed, our planes were grounded with no activity. We were interested in operations that could be useful. Our shareholders [the Dubreuil group, based in Vendée] then approached Prolaser ”, explains Mathieu Munos, the director of the company. "It is also the result of a Vendée alliance," smiles Jean-Marc Aubineau.
In addition to the “great pride” in having “been able to help” at a time of crisis, the two companies also received new financial revenue from this unexpected activity. "The margins on these products are extremely low," relativizes the CEO of Prolaser. “It was a very punctual request, analyzes the boss of Air Caribbean. Will there be in the years to come again a need of this type? I don't know, but if that's the case, we'll be there to answer it. "
On the Prolaser side, the mission is not completely finished since there are a large number of masks in the La Boissière-des-Landes warehouse, near La Roche-sur-Yon. A health business unit will even be created in order to be able to respond to future requests. "We now have experience to show, justifies Jean-Marc Aubineau. This diversification is necessarily welcome for maintaining jobs. "A dozen people have been working there since the end of March.
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