Singapore Airlines has received Envirotainer QEP accreditation, a benchmark that recognises air cargo carriers that operate Envirotainer containers in compliance with Good Distribution Practice (GDP) standards.

SIA is the first airline to be accredited in Southeast Asia and select stations in its quality corridor network have been certified in Q3. This accreditation is expected to position the airline to provide handling and transport services for the pharma sector, particularly with the Covid-19 situation.

Stations with QEP accreditation include Zurich (ZRH), Basel (BSL), Amsterdam (AMS), Brussels (BRU) for Europe and Singapore (SIN), Melbourne (MEL), Sydney (SYD), Auckland (AKL), Osaka (KIX), Bangalore (BLR), Bombay (BOM) in Asia Pacific.

“QEP is both a benchmark and a means by which we engage our partners to provide consistent service and fulfil GDP requirements from pharma companies,” said Chris Fore, senior cold chain advisor at Envirotainer.

“Getting Envirotainer’s QEP accreditation is an important validation of our capabilities, especially given the importance of getting pharmaceuticals, and eventually Covid-19 vaccines, safely and swiftly to customers during this pandemic,” expressed Mr Chin Yau Seng SIA’s senior vice president for cargo.

“We will continue to ensure the quality and reliability of handling pharmaceutical cargo shipments across our network, while also looking for new ways to further enhance our THRUCOOL service,” he added.

Launched in September 2018, SIA’s THRUCOOL cold chain service transports high-value, time-sensitive and temperature-controlled pharmaceutical cargo with speed and reliability through the airline’s quality corridor network.

SIA recently added Brisbane and Melbourne to its quality corridor network, with plans to have more stations accredited with QEP. Envirotainer’s QEP programme currently has 775 participating stations across the world.