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American Airlines Cargo has announced a dedicated suite of products and priorities to make it easier for customers to book a variety of life sciences and healthcare shipments.
This comes as the segment has seen a 17% volume increase over the last years across regions the airline serves.
In a statement, American Airlines Cargo noted that the new advances in healthcare and medicine has prompted demand for reliable transportation of these shipments.
The life sciences suite offers cargo products designed for time-sensitive shipments. American’s Priority Parcel Service (PPS) or ExpediteFS services provides next-flight booking options, priority boarding and short tender times.
The freight carrier said these two products are also customizable, as the airline offers an array of handling and monitoring capabilities based on the level of handling a shipment may need – from prioritized take-off and landing for life-saving medical shipments with MEDEVAC service, to enhanced monitoring and proactive updates with Critical PPS service.
CEIV certification
Also included in the Life Sciences suite is American Airlines' cold-chain solution, ExpediteTC. This product offers both active and passive temperature capabilities for shipments and has earned the airline Center of Excellence for Independent Validators in Pharmaceutical Logistics (CEIV Pharma) certification.
Through the CEIV pharma certification, the International Air Transport Association (IATA), recognizes air carriers and entire air cargo supply chains that have established the tools, procedures and staffing to ensure pharmaceuticals are properly handled and maintain product integrity.
American noted that it is currently CEIV Pharma certified for its operations in and out of Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport (DFW), Philadelphia International Airport (PHL), and Miami International Airport (MIA) with several other key hubs expected within the year.
"These independently-certified stations position American to handle more critical pharmaceutical shipments across its network, supporting connections to Europe, South America and Asia by way of these central and east-coast gateways," it said.
Jessica Tyler, president cargo and vice president operations innovation & delivery for American Airlines signalled the carrier's investment in its life science offerings.
"This dedicated product suite for Life Sciences, as well as our continued investment in our cold chain capabilities, is testament to our commitment to this critical market and the people behind it," Tyler said.
American’s ExpediteTC solution operates with a global network of temperature-controlled facilities, including its dedicated 25,000-square-foot temperature-controlled center in PHL that specializes in pharmaceuticals.
The airline also recently added two new cooler spaces at John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK), including a Controlled Room Temperature ranging 15°C to +25°C and a Refrigerated cooler ranging +2°C to +8°C, to further enhance handling capabilities for temperature-sensitive shipments traveling across the Atlantic.
