Virgin Atlantic Cargo has introduced its new Pharma Secure service for all urgent, valuable and vulnerable pharmaceutical and life sciences shipments.

The new pharma service will include a 24/7 support team, automatic live status updates, proactive service recovery and periodical integrity checks, temperature-controlled facilities and a dedicated booking team.

Also read: Virgin Atlantic to expand cargo-only services in Italy

“This new service takes our already well-established pharmaceutical offering to the next level,” said Dominic Kennedy, managing director, Virgin Atlantic Cargo.

“We look forward to playing a part in supporting the Covid-19 recovery by transporting crucial vaccines and pharmaceutical products to the UK and around the world on our global network, ensuring swift access to vaccines for the public as they become available,” he added.

Despite the decrease in passenger demand due to the pandemic, Virgin Atlantic Cargo believes the demand to transport cargo remains strong.

Flying its first cargo-only flight in March of this year, the airline worked with the Department of Health and Social Care and the NHS to operate cargo-only flights from Shanghai to London Heathrow to bring over 4 million tonnes of essential medical equipment, supplies and PPE into the UK.

“We have completely re-engineered our cargo business into a successful freight-only operation offering cargo-only services and charters for the first time in our history,” Kennedy noted.

On 24 November, Virgin Atlantic Cargo will start a twice weekly cargo service on its Boeing 787-9 aircraft from London Heathrow to San Juan, Puerto Rico, marking the first time that the airline has operated cargo flights to the South American nation.