AirBridgeCargo Airlines has partnered with Kuehne+Nagel to carry out a charter flight from Leipzig to Guangzhou via Novosibirsk in Russia.

AirBridgeCargo said the flight carried more than 500,000 vials of temperature-sensitive human albumin, packaged in Tyvek Thermo covers and transported in 19 ULDs.

“With most of the anti-COVID-19 shipments switching to slow logistics, we could use this period to test our capabilities for vaccine transportation," said Nikolay Glushnev, general director, AirBridgeCargo Airlines.

“Although we have not used special containers for this particular charter flight, it is still essential to guarantee that all the stakeholders are ready for a considerable batch of pharma shipments," he added, noting the importance of keeping the regular flow of medicines, which were previously set-aside to prioritize transport of coronavirus-related cargo shipments.

Human albumin is the most abundant protein in human blood plasma produced in the liver and is usually used to treat or prevent shock following serious injury, bleeding, surgery, or burns by increasing the volume of blood plasma.

Jon Chapman, vice president pharma and healthcare services at Kuehne+Nagel said the pharma delivery is in-line with its efforts to ramp-up capabilities to move sensitive cargo ahead of the release of a COVID-19 vaccine.

“Kuehne+Nagel has assessed the impact of the upcoming COVID-19 vaccine demand and are ramping-up capabilities to address arising requirements of additional capacity, dedicated resources, quality and compliance, and infrastructure,” he said.

“Regular exchange on current and future capabilities, as well as the successful execution of temperature-sensitive shipments with AirBridgeCargo Airlines, confirms that jointly we will ensure fast, safe and secure transportation of vaccines and supporting materials (e.g. syringes) to the world.”

AirBridgeCargo and other carriers within the Volga-Dnepr Group offer a ‘clean charter’ service, which includes the disinfection of cargo and aircraft cabin compartments, as well as providing  PPE, regular COVID-19 tests and medical checks for the crew.

Cargo being transported is also moved through special ‘clean corridors’ in the airports to ensure sanitization.