Turkish Cargo carried 335m Covid vaccines to 61 countries in 2021

Turkish Cargo has reported it carried 335m Covid-19 vaccine doses to 61 countries during 2021.

Carrying pharmaceutical products such as vaccines to 132 countries around the world with its TK Pharma service, the carrier said it reached 8% market share in the air cargo medical products category during 2021.

The airline carried Covid-19 vaccines from the countries they were produced to Turkey and then from Turkey to all over the world. Turkish Cargo carried the largest quantity of vaccines to Turkey followed by Brazil with 100m doses in 2021. The countries with over 1m doses delivered included Mauritania, Madagascar, Rwanda and Congo.

Turkish Airlines chairman of the board and the executive committee, Ahmet Bolat stated: “By establishing a corridor between over 400 international destinations, we ensured that vaccines remained accessible for all. Especially considering the low number of carriers flying to Africa, Turkish Cargo had an important mission to make sure people of this continent could have access to vaccines.”

Turkish Cargo’s new air cargo facility at Istanbul Airport spans 340,000 sq m. SMARTIST is able to facilitate quick and secure transport of medicine and medical products with its heat and temperature controlled area of 9,000 sq m.

The airline is able to carry important medical packages with sensitive temperature and time constraints such as medicine, vaccines, biotechnological products, diagnosis samples, sensitive medical devices, organs and tissues with IATA-CEIV Pharma Certificate quality standards.

Rebecca Jeffrey www.aircargonews.net