Dubai Airports and GMR Hyderabad established a logistics corridor for the global distribution of COVID-19 vaccines, covering Dubai International Airport, Dubai World Central and Hyderabad Rajiv Gandhi International Airport.

"The operational will connect major vaccine manufacturers in India with global markets via Dubai. Emirates SkyCargo will support the project and serves Hyderabad more than 10 times weekly with Boeing 777 aircraft," Dubai Airports said in a statement.

Hyderabad in India is the world's emerging vaccine capital with five major vaccine producers in its vicinity and is reffered to as "the pharma capital of South Asia," while Dubai — home to 88 global airlines flagship carrier Emirates, and 12 international and 400 local and regional freight forwarders — is perfectly positioned as the gateway and distribution hub to efficiently deliver the vaccines to hundreds of cities across Europe, Africa, the Americas and the Middle East.     

Capacity for 300 tonnes of COVID-19 vaccine daily

Dubai Airports said operating in partnership with dnata cargo, the corridor will provide capacity to handle up to 300 tonnes of vaccines per day.

"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 preeminent hub of choice, we wanted to be ready to respond to and accommodate that demand. Our partnership with GMR-Hyderabad is timed perfectly just as the global race to develop the vaccines enters the final stage," said Paul Griffiths, CEO of Dubai Airports.

Nabil Sultan, Emirates divisional senior vice president of cargo said the airline is delighted to support the vaccine distribution corridor initiative between Dubai and Hyderabad Airports which will greatly facilitate the rapid and secure transportation of COVID-19 vaccines worlwide.

Emirates SkyCargo provides 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," he said.