India is a major producer of pharmaceutical products, and the airline has a market share of 18% of pharma shipments out of the country.
Hyderabad was the airline’s first station to deploy Envirotainer Releye RLP containers and the station holds the national record for the most active pharma containers on one flight, with 11 ULDs on one flight.
The city is home to over 2,500 of India’s 3,000 pharma companies and is India’s main pharma export station.
Ehab Matta, Senior Manager Regional Cargo Indian subcontinent, Middle East and Pakistan at Qatar Airways says, “We have moved close to 30 million COVID-19 vaccines to date to several destinations across our network including Africa, Middle East, Americas, Europe and Asia. We expect to move more since the COVID-19 vaccine export restriction was lifted by the Indian Government late last year. Our participation in the UNHCR vaccine programme, through Kuehne and Nagel, is a good testimony to our commitment.”
Demand for healthcare products led Qatar Airways to source a suitable candidate for the role of Regional Cargo Sales Manager – Products, leading to the appointment of Sunita Sanghvi joining the airline on 14 March with responsibility for developing its pharma products in the region.
Matta adds, “Most of our teams across all Indian stations are trained in our pharma product and are well versed with commercial and operational requirements as well as specific customer needs. It could be said that our largest pool of pharma experts is based in India.”