Lufthansa Cargo’s pharma hub for temperature-sensitive airfreight officially went into operation today at Hyderabad Airport in India. Prior to the opening, the location had been certified by the cargo carrier as meeting the complex requirements for the transport of temperature-sensitive pharmaceuticals – the first station in Lufthansa Cargo’s global network to be awarded this status. For several weeks beforehand, the relevant processes and infrastructure had been thoroughly tested by a team of experts.

“With the certification of the key stations for cold-chain transport in our network we are strength-ening our commitment to transporting temperature-sensitive shipments,” Christopher Dehio, Sen-ior Manager Global Key Accounts Temperature Control at Lufthansa Cargo, said today in Hy-derabad. “In parallel to the certification process, we are further expanding our own fleet of cold-chain containers in Hyderabad.”

In December last year, Lufthansa Cargo and the operator of Hyderabad Airport, the GMR Group, announced plans to jointly develop the airport into the key hub in South Asia for the transport of temperature-sensitive pharmaceuticals. Today the airport has a state-of-the-art infrastructure that is tailored to the needs of the growing pharmaceuticals industry.

The first two cold-chain transports from Lufthansa Cargo’s new pharma hub in Hyderabad got underway today with consignments from the Dr. Reddy and Gland Pharma pharmaceutical groups. The temperature-sensitive medicines were transported to Philadelphia and Chicago and via Frankfurt aboard a Lufthansa Cargo MD-11.