Gallery: Life-Saving Vaccines Distributed Worldwide
Linda Blachly
ANA, DHL partner on Pfizer vaccine transport
Photo credit: ANAAll Nippon Airways (ANA), DHL Global Forwarding Japan and Pfizer Inc., has distributed COVID-19 vaccines under a joint partnership for the international transportation of vaccines between Belgium and Japan.
UNICEF, cargo carriers partner to prioritize vaccine delivery
Photo credit: AstralCharity UNICEF launched an initiative with 16 airlines—called the UNICEF Humanitarian Airfreight Initiative—to ensure consignments of COVID-19 vaccine and other humanitarian supplies reach the areas where they are most needed. The airlines—AirBridgeCargo, Air France/KLM, Astral Aviation, Brussels Airlines, Cargolux, Cathay Pacific, Emirates SkyCargo, Ethiopian Airlines, Etihad Airways, IAG Cargo, Korean Air, Lufthansa Cargo, Qatar Airways, Saudia, Singapore Airlines and United Airlines—have committed to prioritizing delivery of COVID-19 vaccines, related medicines, medical devices and other critical supplies to respond to the pandemic.
UIA uses 737s, 767s for vaccine transport
Photo credit: Ukraine International AirlinesUkraine International Airlines has prepared Boeing 737 and 767 aircraft to transport the vaccines as cargo. Since the implementation of quarantine measures, UIA has transported 870 tons of medical cargo. UIA said it “always takes a proactive position and expresses its readiness to transport the vaccines both to Ukraine and around the world.”
Dubai alliance brings vaccine to poorer nations
Photo credit: Emirates SkyCargoThe Dubai Vaccine Logistics Alliance—comprising Emirates Airline, Dubai Airports, port and logistics operator DP World, and the emirate’s International Humanitarian City—has joined together to speed up the distribution of COVID-19 vaccines, particularly to poorer countries. The alliance is being launched in support of the World Health Organization’s COVAX initiative, which aims to equitably distribute two billion doses of COVID-19 vaccines in 2021. A larger group of stakeholders—including pharmaceutical manufacturers, forwarders, government agencies and other groups—are working with the alliance to help transport the vaccines.
IAG Cargo delivers over 1 million vaccines
Photo credit: IAG CargoIAG Cargo has flown over a million COVID-19 v¬accines around the world, through its Constant Climate hubs at London Heathrow, Madrid and Dublin. Among the IAG Cargo shipments to date are 80,000 doses from its Madrid hub to the Canary Islands and the first batch of the Moderna vaccine to Dublin and Gran Canaria. IAG Cargo CCO John Cheetham said, “Transporting COVID-19 vaccines represent the latest effort in our ongoing work to support the fight against COVID-19. Since the start of the pandemic in March, over three quarters of our 1,000 charters in 2020 were used to transport thousands of tonnes of crucial medical supplies, PPE and ventilators.”
India’s SpiceJet transports first batch of Covishield vaccine
Photo credit: SpiceJet via TwitterIndia’s LCC SpiceJet delivered a 224 kg. consignment of the Covishield vaccine from Mumbai to Rajkot on Jan. 12.
Virgin Atlantic supports NHS in vaccine rollout effort
Photo credit: Virgin AtlanticVirgin Atlantic teams, spanning cabin crew, pilots, ground and office-based teams, are set to work with the NHS over the coming months to assist with the rollout of the Covid-19 vaccine, supporting the national effort to save lives. The airline is working with the NHS and St John’s Ambulance service to secure voluntary and paid opportunities for its people at NHS mass vaccination centers to support with the rollout of the COVID-19 vaccine. Since the pandemic impacted, many Virgin Atlantic employees, including those with medical training have been furloughed on the government’s Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme, offering their time and skills to support the NHS and our communities in the fight against COVID-19.
Dubai Airports creates vaccine distribution corridor
Photo credit: Dubai AirportsDubai Airports, operator of Dubai International (DXB) and Dubai World Central (DWC), and GMR Hyderabad (GMR-HYD) have joined forces to create a COVID-19 vaccine distribution corridor. Home to 88 global airlines including Dubai's flagship carrier Emirates, and 12 international and 400 local and regional freight forwarders, Dubai Airports with its interlinked cargo facilities at DXB and DWC and in partnership with dnata cargo, the airport service provider in Dubai, the HYD-DXB vaccine corridor will provide capacity to seamlessly handle up to 300 tonnes of vaccines per day.
UPS delivers Pfizer, Moderna vaccines in US and EU
Photo credit: UPSUnited Parcel Service (UPS) is delivering shipments of both of the approved coronavirus vaccines produced by Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna to destinations in the US and European Union. The company is also providing logistics support for eight of the 10 leading vaccines in clinical trials today.
Air France-KLM Martinair Cargo flights carry millions of doses
Photo credit: Air France-KLMAir France-KLM Martinair Caro is transporting pharmaceutical products in the belly of passenger aircraft (Air France fleet: 99 long-haul aircraft/AFKL: 175) or in its full-freighter aircraft (AF: 2/AFKL: 6). An Air France all-cargo aircraft can carry more than 1 million doses per flight and a long-haul passenger aircraft can carry more than 400,000 doses in its holds.
FedEx Express delivers vaccines to US, Canada
Photo credit: FedEx ExpressThe FedEx Express network began actively delivering Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine shipments across the US in December 2020, as soon as approval was granted. The company began vaccine shipments throughout Canada later in the month and prepared to deliver vaccines to other countries.
Swiss WorldCargo’s first vaccine shipments went to São Paulo, Zurich
Photo credit: Swiss WorldCargoSwiss WorldCargo carried over 14 tons of finished COVID-19 vaccines on Dec. 18 to São Paulo. Previously, the shipment had been transported from Beijing to Zurich. The special cargo was carried in 10 Envirotainer RAP-e2 containers, which kept the temperature consistently cooled within a range of 2-8 degrees Celsius. Together with forwarding partner PGL Brazil, Swiss WorldCargo carried out the shipment on behalf of the Brazilian Butantan institute. The total shipment carried close to 2 million doses of finished COVID-19 vaccines.
American transports first shipment of COVID-19 vaccine
Photo credit: American AirlinesOn the night of Dec. 13, the American Airlines Cargo team carried its first shipment of coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccine. In close collaboration with pharmaceutical and cargo partners, the airline received the shipment by truck at Chicago O’Hare International Airport (ORD) and loaded the shipment onto a Boeing 777-200 aircraft flying to Miami International Airport (MIA). The vaccine shipment arrived at its final destination in a U.S. territory in the Caribbean later that day. American began conducting trial flights in November to simulate the conditions required to transport the COVID-19 vaccine, stress testing the thermal packaging and operational handling process to ensure it remains stable in transit.
Delta delivers COVID-19 vaccines to Atlanta, San Francisco
Photo credit: Delta Air LinesDelta Air Lines has delivered COVID-19 vaccine shipments—most recently from Detroit to Atlanta and San Francisco—following successful shipments of test vaccines earlier this year. The entire journey monitored in Delta’s unique Vaccine Watch Tower that enables full end-to-end visibility for all vaccine shipments. With 24/7 centralized monitoring and customer reporting, the Tower works closely with Flight Operations to ensure the safe and secure transportation of the vaccines at the required temperature. With large warehouses and cooler facilities in Atlanta, Detroit, Los Angeles, New York-JFK and Seattle, as well as a network of 49 certified Pharma airports across the globe, Delta said it has the necessary infrastructure in place to support COVID-19 vaccine shipments.
United flies first vaccines to US
Photo credit: United AirlinesUnited Airlines is the first commercial airline to fly the first FDA-authorized COVID-19 vaccines to the U.S., thanks to a coordinated effort between cargo, safety, technical operations, flight operations and several other teams at United. On behalf of Pfizer, United operated five cargo-only flights in early December delivering COVID-19 vaccines from Brussels to Chicago.
Korean Air carries vaccine component to Europe
Photo credit: Korean AirKorean Air transported what it said was an “important COVID-19 vaccine component” to a vaccine production plant in Europe on Dec. 8, 2020. The airline said “temperatures were maintained below -60 degrees Celsius throughout the transportation process” aboard Korean Air flight 925 to Amsterdam.
Delta proves it can safely ship vaccine globally
Photo credit: Delta Air LinesDelta Air Lines said it has proven capabilities for transporting COVID-19 vaccines after successful shipments earlier this year. With large warehouses and cooler facilities in Atlanta, Detroit, Los Angeles, New York-JFK and Seattle, and a network of 49 certified Pharma airports across the globe, Delta said it has capabilities in place to support vaccine shipments at home and around the world. “In addition to robust domestic shipment capabilities to support rapid distribution with the U.S., Delta has a broad and nimble global distribution function in coordination with Air France-KLM-Martinair Cargo and Virgin Atlantic Cargo that enables end-to-end compliance and assurance for customers across our broad network,” Delta said in a statement.
LATAM’s Solidarity Plane offers free domestic vaccine transport
Photo credit: LATAMLATAM Airlines Group will make COVID-19 vaccine transport available to countries where it has domestic operations (Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru) through its Solidarity Plane program. Since March 2020, the program has provided free transport for more than 900 healthcare professionals, 400 people with urgent need of medical assistance and more than 700 organs and tissues for transplants.
Alaska Air Cargo, HAECO partner for in-seat cargo storage
Photo credit: Rob FinlaysonAlaska Air Cargo is introducing a new in-seat package stowage system to allow full use of an Alaska Airlines passenger aircraft in a cargo-only configuration. As the North American launch customer for HAECO’s design, the interior package stowage containers allow Alaska Air Cargo to fill the main cabin passenger seats with an additional 13,500 pounds of cargo on top of what a passenger-only cargo flight can carry. This innovative, FAA-approved- design allows cargo personnel to use all available space on the main deck for essential goods like mail, medical equipment, e-commerce packages and other freight. In addition to Air Cargo's dedicated three freighters, one Boeing 737-900 passenger aircraft is being utilized as a cargo-only aircraft. Each flight will carry up to 30,000 pounds, which includes belly capacity.
Ethiopian Airlines partners with Cainaio to launch cold air vaccine transport
Photo credit: Ethiopian AirlinesCainiao Smart Logistics Network, the logistics arms of Alibaba Group Holdings, is partnering with Ethiopian Airlines to launch a special cold chain air freight for the transportation of temperature-controlled medicines from Shenzhen Airport, China’s first medical cross-border cold chain facility. Temperature-controlled medicines will be distributed twice a week from Shenzhen to Africa, and to the rest of the world via Dubai and Addis Ababa. This is China's first cross-border medical cold chain route to be operated regularly and is certified to transport temperature-controlled medicines including COVID-19 vaccines.
Virgin Atlantic ready to handle vaccine transport
Photo credit: Virgin AtlanticVirgin Atlantic’s cargo operation has today unveiled new capabilities in readiness to handle the logistical complexities of distributing COVID-19 vaccines on its global network. To ensure the safety and security of this valuable cargo, the airline has introduced a new Pharma Secure service for all urgent, valuable and vulnerable pharmaceutical and life sciences shipments. Working with their customers and responding to their specific requirements, the new product will include a 24/7 support team, automatic live status updates, proactive service recovery and periodical integrity checks, temperature-controlled facilities and a dedicated booking team.
Air France-KLM: ‘We are ready’ to distribute vaccines
Photo credit: Air France-KLMAir France-KLM says it is ready to distribute COVID-19 vaccines. Together with Air Cargo Netherlands (ACN) and Amsterdam Airport Schiphol and with Aéroport de Paris (already two leading European Pharma hubs), the company said it has established two taskforces to “fully prepare both airports communities for upcoming vaccine transport operations.”
Airlines and airports are stepping up to the plate to distribute the vaccine for COVID-19. The air cargo industry is playing a vital role in distributing doses of the vaccine around the world. IATA DG and CEO Alexandre de Juniac called the delivery of billions of doses of a vaccine that must be transported and stored in a deep-frozen state to the entire world efficiently a “hugely complex logistical challenge across the supply chain.” Here are some airlines and airports that have accepted the challenge.
