In 2020 the COVID-19 pandemic shook the world. In a few weeks, the majority of the world came to a stop. Public health became the number one priority for most countries. In February and March 2020, around 3 Billion people were under lockdown, leading to an almost complete stop of the air traffic.
The need for medical supplies such as medicine, chirurgical masks and (later) vaccines, led to many cargo movements, mainly between Asia and Europe, but not only. Cargo companies were extremely busy in Spring and Summer 2020 to carry thousands of tons of freight.
After the lockdown, plane lovers were greeted with many interesting aircraft that could not be seen before, or very rarely. Vatry airport became a strategic platform at this period, being half way between Paris and the East of France (which was particularly struck by the virus), as well as being a cheap airport with cargo handling capacities. Hundreds of movements of Antonov An-124 Ruslans could be counted in 2020, as well as visits from The Cargo Airline Boeing 747-200, one of the oldest flying 747s in the world.
Twice in 2020, the Antonov An-225 Mriya came to France to bring masks. With its ability to carry large volumes, the world's biggest aircaft was ideal to perform these kinds of missions.
Its first visit was in April 2020, when the mighty Antonov visited Vatry. The second visit of the aircraft was in Châteauroux in the summer of 2020. Each time, the aircraft brought dozens of planespotters to the fence.
Vatry was not the only airport to get special cargo visitors: Paris CDG and many other platforms also saw their fair share of interesting aircraft!
Cargo companies had to readapt their market with new missions, such as medical supplies transportation. The freighters became the most frequent aircraft around many airports, while passenger transportation was nearly at a stop. Commercial airlines also needed to readapt their economic model. Many pax airlines converted into freight ones in 2020, and we could see a lot of aircraft never seen before.
