Virgin Atlantic partners with SkyCell to move pharmaceuticals worldwide
Virgin Atlantic has today announced that it partnered with the pharma containers manufacturer SkyCell to contribute to its safe, secure, and sustainable shipment of valuable vaccines and pharma products.
Virgin Atlantic has today announced that it partnered with the pharma containers manufacturer SkyCell to contribute to its safe, secure, and sustainable shipment of valuable vaccines and pharma products.
Virgin Atlantic will use SkyCell containers covering the full range of biologics transit temperature requirements: -80°C, -25°C to -15°C, +2°C to +8°C, and up to +15°C to + 25°C.
“The partnership will give customers confidence that their pharmaceutical shipments will arrive at destination safely, as the innovative hybrid containers - which have an average runtime of 202 hours - have a failure rate of less than 0.1 percent. This is compared to an industry-standard failure rate of up to 12 percent, which cost the pharma industry $34.1 billion in 2019 alone,” claims the Virgin Atlantic release.
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SkyCell’s containers also have features like shock absorbent feet to reduce vibrations and double doors system to eliminate potential humidity damage to the cargo. These containers also save large amounts of CO2, thanks to their lightweight, environmentally friendly material, design and efficiency.
This partnership will further enable Virgin Atlantic to deliver pharmaceuticals through its Pharma Secure service, which was introduced for all urgent, valuable, and vulnerable pharmaceutical and life sciences shipments last year. Meeting the rising needs for pharmaceutical and life science products, Virgin Atlantic together with SkyCell offers end-to-end compliance and assurance of vaccines and other vital medicines.
Dominic Kennedy, managing director at Virgin Atlantic Cargo, said, “We want to offer our customers peace of mind so they can book confidently with us, knowing their precious cargo will arrive safely, securely, and on time.”
“The partnership will allow our customers to lease self-charging, temperature-controlled containers to boost the safety and sustainability of their shipments.”
Chiara Venuti, head of airline partnerships of SkyCell, said, “It’s clear that collaboration is the key to improving the supply chain and ensuring more life-saving pharmaceuticals make it to their destination in a viable state. Partnering with the innovative airline Virgin Atlantic provides the resources to support pharma manufacturers, improving the efficiency and the safety of their supply chain.”
