Dubai Airports and GMR Hyderabad (GMR-HYD) airport group are creating a Covid-19 vaccine distribution corridor to connect pharma manufacturers in India with global markets.
Hyderabad is the world’s emerging vaccine capital with five major vaccine producers in its vicinity. Dubai Airports and airport service provider dnata cargo will provide handling capacity for up to 300 tonnes of vaccines per day on the HYD-DXB corridor.
The UAE airport group’s Dubai International (DXB) and Dubai World Central (DWC) hubs are home to 88 global airlines including Dubai’s flagship carrier Emirates, and 12 international and 400 local and regional freight forwarders.
Paul Griffiths, Chief Executive of Dubai Airports, said, “A major surge in demand for the efficient, safe and reliable global distribution of high volumes of Covid-19 vaccines is expected in the coming months and as the world’s pre-eminent hub of choice, we wanted to be ready to respond to and accommodate that demand.”
Said Nabil Sultan, Emirates Divisional Senior Vice President, Cargo, said, “Hyderabad is an important station for us in terms of pharma transportation and is part of our international Pharma Corridors initiative for enhanced cool chain protection for pharmaceuticals. During the Covid-19 pandemic, we have continued to transport important volumes of temperature-sensitive pharmaceutical cargo from Hyderabad and the region.”
Sultan added, “Emirates SkyCargo provides robust flight connectivity to Hyderabad with more than 10 weekly flights on our widebody Boeing 777 aircraft. Together with our charter capability, we are well-positioned to transport the Covid-19 vaccines from Hyderabad to our hub in Dubai where we have extensive EU GDP certified infrastructure for pharma, including a dedicated airside hub to store and distribute Covid-19 vaccines before transporting them onwards to the rest of the world including emerging markets.”
Source: AirCargoNews
