Right from the advent of the distribution of COVID-19 vaccines, Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport (CSMIA) has left no stone unturned in aiding the nation towards a seamless and efficient transport. Since then, CSMIA has facilitated the distribution of a total of approx. 43 million doses of vaccines catering to 8.5 million doses in India and 34.5 million doses across the globe. The SOPs implemented by the airport in anticipation of the vaccine distribution saw the terminal register an average cargo processing time of just 10 minutes for domestic delivery and 25 minutes for international, right from goods acceptance to dispatch at the ramp.
CSMIA has facilitated the distribution of approximately 113 tons of the vaccine to over 57 destinations; this includes over 29 international and 28 domestic destinations. CSMIA witnessed the highest export of the vaccine to Dhaka with nine million doses, Morocco with six million doses and Brazil with four million doses. On the domestic front, a total of 2.1 million doses of vaccines were distributed to Raipur, Cochin and Guwahati. The airport has supported over 18 airlines for the vaccine distribution across the globe. Air India, Emirates and Royal Air Morocco emerged as the top three airlines operating the highest number of vaccines to international destination with 15 million, 6.1 million and six million doses respectively whereas SpiceJet, Indigo and Go Air were the top airlines catering to the domestic destinations with 3.1 million, 2.7 million and 1.5 million doses respectively.
As a pharma hub, CSMIA is a veteran in transporting vaccines across the world and has placed a well-defined process for the faster turnaround of the vaccine and transshipment movements. The airport deployed a dedicated COVID-task force in order to reduce dwell time and facilitate advanced planning and collaboration between the airport and all stakeholders in this process – the airline customers, supply chain partners, regulatory and governmental bodies, and vaccine distributors. It has also initiated a full-time 24×7 Customer Service Cell for COVID-19 vaccine EXIM consignments, in order to address customer queries, pre-alerts and status updates.
Moreover, the air cargo is equipped with state-of-the-art facilities such as Asia’s largest temperature-controlled Export Pharma Excellence Centre and Pharma-dedicated Import Cold Zone, a first-of-its-kind – ‘Cooltainer’ facility and the largest hub for Envirotainer movements with over 60 power outlets for processing pharma active containers. Additionally, it has an exclusive station dealing with storage and maintenance of both e-type and t-type active containers that facilitate the seamless distribution of vaccines across India.
In the wake of the pandemic, CSMIA has been relentlessly operating its cargo handling activities to cater to the greater need to mobilize and supply essential life-saving commodities across India and the world. The airport continues to undertake precautionary measures such as thermal temperature reading, social distancing, sensor-based hand sanitizers, wearing PPE, and regular sanitization of cargo facilities. As the first airport in India and third in Asia to achieve the IATA CEIV certification as well as being the only Indian airport in a strategic partnership with Pharma.aero, CSMIA is well-positioned to support, maintain and optimize pharma-dedicated corridors globally.
