A collaboration led by the Hope Consortium, Abu Dhabi Airports Company, Brussels Airport and Pharma.Aero will see the formation of a direct air corridor for pharma shipments between Abu Dhabi and Belgium.

Initiated by Abu Dhabi’s health department, the collaboration aims to establish a fully compliant origin-to-destination pharma air corridor between Abu Dhabi and Brussels Airports.

The move follows an earlier visit by Abu Dhabi’s vaccine distribution consortium to Brussels Airport to showcase its collective capabilities. The consortium is represented by flag carrier Etihad Airways and leading forwarders and ground handling agents.

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With its network of partners, the HOPE Consortium has handled over 200 million doses of Covid-19 vaccines in over 40 destinations. Meanwhile, Brussels Airport has been a key air hub in the transport of vaccines, having handled over 750 million of the life-saving jabs.

Pharma.Aero said the development of the dedicated air corridor will leverage technologies like API and IoT devices and webforms shared with all relevant stakeholders to ensure close monitoring of pharma shipments.

“Our relationship with Etihad Cargo and the HOPE Consortium sharing best practices makes us confident that the corridor will promote commitment for transparency with customers and stakeholders,” said Nathan De Valck, cargo head at Brussels and chairman of Pharma.Aero

Pharma.Aero said that a second edition of its pharma logistics masterclass will be hosted in Abu Dhabi next year from 5 to 9 September, in partnership with Khalifa University of Science and Technology and the University of Antwerp.