Turkey’s first Covid vaccines transported from China by Turkish Cargo

Turkish Cargo has delivered Turkey’s first batch of vaccines, which were manufactured in China by pharma firm Sinovac.

The IATA CEIV Pharma-certified carrier transported the vaccines, which were placed inside 17 temperature-controlled containers, using its TK Pharma service on a flight from Beijing to Ankara. The vaccines, were then transported Turkey’s Ministry of Health.

Turkish Cargo said that response to the coronavirus outbreak, it increased its airfreight capacity by 30%. In addition, it enhanced its cold chain capabilities to enable it to transport 25,000 tonnes of pharma supplies per month.

The carrier also highlighted that it has created a global pharmaceutical corridor between more than 400 destinations, and it has carried many other types of pharmaceuticals along its corridor to key destinations including Mumbai, Brussels, Istanbul, Singapore, Dubai, Basel, London and Amsterdam.

Turkish Cargo operates its fleet of 361 aircraft — 25 of which are freighters — across its growing network.

In 2019, the carrier reported the highest growth rate of the top 10 freight carriers as IATA data showed traffic increased by 19.3% year on year to just over 7bn cargo tonne kms.

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