Cologne Bonn Airport is offering individuals the chance to be vaccinated in Zero G (well, almost). The airport has organized a vaccination campaign in its historic Airbus A300 Zero G aircraft that is on static display in one of its car parks.
Around the world, we’ve seen some innovative vaccination offers to get jabs into arms. Air New Zealand, for example, was giving New Zealanders the opportunity to get vaccinated in a 787 Dreamliner back in October as part of its Jabaseat campaign. Now, aerospace-themed jabs have made their way to Germany.
Be vaccinated in a historic plane
Cologne Bonn Airport is offering the chance to be vaccinated in a part of aviation history. The airport provided a first vaccination session earlier this week, with two more planned for later this month on Friday, December 17th, and Tuesday, December 21st.
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According to the airport, at least 300 people had been vaccinated onboard the aircraft on Monday. First, second, and third vaccinations were given by the Cologne City vaccination team onboard the aircraft, allowing ‘passengers’ to see inside the plane while completing the vaccination process.
The Zero G plane
The plane that was used for the vaccination drive has a long history. The aircraft was the third A300 built by Airbus and was used as a testbed for the European manufacturer’s first aircraft program. According to data obtained from AeroTransport Data Bank (ATDB.aero), the aircraft first flew on June 28th, 1973, as F-WUAD, meaning that the airframe is almost half a century old now.
Airbus held onto the jet until May 1996. It was reportedly wet-leased to Lufthansa between 1973 and 1974, while Transavia had intended to take the aircraft in 1975. This acquisition didn’t go through. After Airbus, the plane landed in the hands of Sabena Technics, where it took on its Zero G role as F-BUAD. It then went on to SA Novespace in January 2005.
Read More: Parabolic Flight – How Zero G Is Achieved In Aircraft
From May to June 2006, the aircraft was wet-leased by the DLR, a German research agency that has recently been flying a Falcon jet right behind an Airbus A350. During its time in the Zero G livery, the plane was used for research projects and training astronauts in weightlessness. In 2014, the jet was retired and ended up at Cologne Bonn Airport, where it remains on display.
Part of a national vaccination drive
To date, 72.7% of the German population has received one dose of the COVID-19 vaccination, while 69.7% have been fully vaccinated (excluding boosters). The country is now rolling out its booster program with an additional mRNA vaccine. Additionally, national rules were recently changed, meaning that only vaccinated or recovered can access many parts of daily life such as non-essential shops, restaurants, and museums.
This has seen a surge in demand for vaccines, but as the country continues to encourage vaccinations for those. For example, in Frankfurt, getting vaccinated on the top of a skyscraper or even on a special vaccination tram running around the city was possible.
Would you want to be vaccinated onboard a historic aircraft? If so, which? Let us know what you think and why in the comments!
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