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Aer Lingus, IEA in pharma cargo deal

Friday, March 01 12:29:41

Aer Lingus and the Irish Exporters Association today said they have agreed a partnership deal to support the export of pharmaceuticals and medical devices.

The aim of the partnership between IEA Life Sciences and Aer Lingus Cargo is to ensure the integrity of the time and temperature sensitive healthcare air-cargo shipments.

Aer Lingus Cargo is a key partner in the supply chain that supports exporters of pharmaceutical and medical devices, with 68pc of their cargo customers coming from the sector.

John Whelan, the IEA Chief Executive said it is imperative that airlines, ground handling agents and other stakeholders in the supply chain - including freight forwarders, terminal operators, packaging, tracking and tracing companies - are familiar both with the WHO, the EU and the IMB regulations for the shipment of healthcare products.

Peter O'Neill, Director of Cargo at Aer Lingus, said the airline is well geared up for pharma traffic.

"With our transatlantic flights ramping up from March we have unrivalled double daily services to the key trade gateways of New York, Boston and Chicago. We are delighted to partner with the IEA and Life Sciences Ireland in continuing to meet the needs of leading Irish exporters in the pharmaceutical and medical device sectors. AerCool, our premium cool chain product, is specially developed to meet the temperature requirements of these critical goods".

John Whelan, Chief Executive of the IEA went on to say; "The recently published All Ireland Freight Study showed a concerning trend of sending goods originally designated by exporters for air freighting to their destination, but being sent by road truck to Heathrow Airport, or Charles de Gaulle in Paris, or other EU airports before being transferred to an aircraft. This is not what the exporter of pharmaceutical product wants, as it weakens the security of the supply chain and increases the risk of counterfeit intrusion".