Qatar Airways Cargo, Hermes joined hands to charter life saving medications to Brasilia

10 September, 2018: Qatar Airways Cargo recently chartered 100 tonnes of medications from Mumbai to Brasilia for its customer Hermes Travel and Cargo Private Limited. This is one of the largest charter of medicines on a single flight among the several pharma charters performed by the cargo carrier.

The pallets were loaded on a Boeing 777 freighter at Mumbai, which is part of the carrier’s pharma network. Through integrated planning and excellent coordination between the stakeholders involved, the life-saving Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) medications were dispatched to support Brazil’s Ministry of Health’s innovative response to the HIV epidemic.

The government of Brazil initiated the implementation of PrEP to prevent new cases of HIV among key higher-risk population groups through 35 sites across the country. The Brazilian programme aims to offer PrEP to 54,000 people within the next five years.
“Aviation and air cargo plays an important role in saving lives and we are humbled to support this innovative programme. Since the launch of our QR Pharma product, we have been working closely with our customers to enhance the product for the benefit of the final consumer. Our dedicated teams ensure the cool chain is unbroken to preserve the efficacy of all medicines flown on Qatar Airways Cargo,” said Guillaume Halleux, chief officer cargo, Qatar Airways.

Meanwhile, Rohan M Thakkar, joint managing director at Hermes Travel & Cargo Private Limited said, “We would like to express our sincere appreciation for the exceptional charter service that was rendered by Qatar Airways Cargo for our esteemed client M/s Cipla. The Boeing 777 charter freighter that was deployed on the Mumbai-Brasilia route to move such a huge volume of pharmaceuticals saw seamless, timely and very well co-ordinated deliverables from Qatar Airways Cargo, which paves the way for a growing cooperation with the carrier in the near future. This seamless delivery is acknowledged by the Ministry of Brazil as well.”