Cargolux Airlines has passed its surveillance audit for the EU’s Guidelines on Good Distribution Practice of Medicinal Products for Human Use, renewing the certification for another year.

“GDP certification ensures compliance with best distribution practice and quality in all related logistics services, especially in this highly regulated sector,” said Franco Nanna, director of global logistics services at Cargolux and chairman of IATA’s Time and Temperature Task Force. “It provides peace of mind to the customers when shipping these valuable commodities from point of origin to destination. Customers’ satisfaction is our passion.”

The certification programme assesses the use of specialized equipment, well-established pharmaceutical working procedures and the continuous improvement of pharmaceutical-handling to maintain the quality and integrity of medicinal products.

The Luxembourg-based carrier was the world’s first airline to be certified in January 2014.

Separately, Cargolux also announced that it had transported a total of 889,746 tonnes in 2015, a year-on-year growth of 7.4%. The fleet of 12 Boeing 747-400Fs and 13 747-8Fs had an average load factor of 66%.

At the end of November 2015, the airline held a global market share of 3.8%.