Etihad deploys pharmaceutical protection plans for its planes

All temperature-sensitive pharmaceutical products, including blood plasma, tablets, medicines and anaesthetics, must be kept within different temperature ranges in compliance with industry and regulatory guidelines; this ensures the products are protected from degradation due to heat and cold exposure during the transportation process.

Supervised by trained and experienced service teams and ground handling staff, TempCheck incorporates the latest equipment, processes and operating procedures that keep all pharmaceutical products within a temperature controlled environment at every stage of the journey, from the cool room facility to the ramp, and from the aircraft to the customer.

David Kerr, Etihad Airways VP Cargo, said, "Over the last two years we have seen tremendous growth in the amount of pharmaceutical products we have successfully transported over our hub in Abu Dhabi as we continue to expand our passenger and cargo networks."

To meet this increasing demand, it has also upgraded its temperature controlled storage facilities in Abu Dhabi and has refurbished its existing cool rooms to meet pharmaceutical-safe specifications. Extensive new purpose-built facilities are also being established and are scheduled to come online in 2015, prior to the summer period.

"We have been working closely with our pharmaceutical customers in developing this specialised solution, which has been designed to ensure that their temperature-sensitive pharmaceutical products are protected at every stage of the journey, and reach their final destination in perfect condition."

The new solution provides:

• A range of temperature controlled (active) Unit Load Device (ULD) containers that are available for lease, for keeping products in cool, chilled or frozen states during transportation,
• Pre-cooled thermo blanket protection (passive), for wrapping around temperature-sensitive cargo whilst being moved between the aircraft and the cool room facility,
• Prioritised ground handling and loading, ensuring that all cargo is transferred between the cool facility and aircraft within 40 minutes maximum,
• Temperature controlled cargo hold within the aircraft,
• Extensive cool room facilities at its hub in Abu Dhabi to provide customers with variable temperature storage options

It offers a combination of bellyhold capacity and maindeck freighter services to 111 destinations internationally, operated by a fleet of 111 passenger and freighter aircraft. For more information, go to www.etihad.com.