Qatar Airways Cargo transported 56 SkyCell containers with vaccines on its scheduled freighter and belly-hold cargo flights for customer CEVA Logistics.
The 54 tonne shipment of pneumococcal and varicella vaccines was flown from Brussels to Mumbai via the carrier’s hub in Doha on two separate flights.
The SkyCell containers were loaded on Qatar Airways aircraft in Brussels and arrived in Doha where they were stored at the carrier’s airside Climate Control Centre for pharmaceuticals, before connecting on the aircraft to Mumbai the following day.
During the interim storage in the cold chamber, SkyCell’s hybrid containers were able to recharge themselves, extending their long independent runtime for another 72 hours after arrival in Mumbai.
Guillaume Halleux, Chief Officer Cargo at Qatar Airways, said: “We are glad to support our customer CEVA and offer the much-required capacity for these vaccine shipments. When transporting climate control products, we ensure the cool chain is unbroken to preserve the efficacy of all medicines and pharmaceutical shipments flown on Qatar Airways Cargo.
“The COVID-19 crisis has indeed created quite a number of challenges for global trade, however air cargo is a resilient industry and we continue to operate our cargo flights, supporting customers to transport their cargo around the world.”
Chiara Venuti, Business Development Director of SkyCell, added: “The COVID-19 crisis leaves no room for error and direct product release without temperature deviation is key. We are therefore proud to have contributed with our container solutions to the safe and timely delivery of these critical vaccines to patients in need.”
Twan Reijers, Vice President Freight Management Benelux from CEVA Logistics, said: “‘With the help of Qatar Airways Cargo, we were able to assist Global Biopharma company to move a large quantity of vaccines in the compliant and controlled environment of Skycell.”
Currently, amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Qatar Airways Cargo continues to operate a significant cargo schedule with approximately 175 flights per day.
During the past month the cargo operator has worked closely with governments and NGOs to transport over 100,000 tonnes of medical and aid supplies to impacted regions around the world on both scheduled and charter services, the equivalent of roughly 1,000 fully loaded Boeing 777 freighters.
Freight charters are being operated to multiple countries including China, India, Iran, Kuwait, Lebanon, France, Spain, Italy, Belgium, Germany, Poland, United Kingdom, the United States and Australia.
