Airlines face 'mission of the century' in shipping vaccines

Frankfurt

IN COOLED warehouses on the fringes of Frankfurt airport, Deutsche Lufthansa AG is preparing its depleted fleet for the gargantuan task of airlifting millions of doses of the vaccines meant to end the global pandemic.

Lufthansa, one of the world's biggest cargo carriers, began planning in April in anticipation of the shots that Pfizer Inc to Moderna Inc and AstraZeneca plc are developing in record time. A 20-member task force is devising how to fit more of the crucial payload onto the airline's 15 Boeing Co 777 and MD-11 freighters, along with hold space in a vast passenger fleet now flying at just 25 per cent of capacity.

"The question is how we scale it up," said Thorsten Braun, who leads Lufthansa's part in the global effort. Airlines will be the workhorses of the attempt to eradicate the virus, hauling billions of vials to every corner of the globe. It's an unprecedented task, made more difficult by the carriers' diminished state after culling jobs, routes and aircraft to survive a crisis that's reduced air traffic globally by an estimated 61 per cent this year.

"This will be the largest and most complex logistical exercise ever," said Alexandre de Juniac, chief executive officer of the International Air Transport Association (Iata). "The world is counting on us."

Iata estimates that the equivalent of 8,000 loads in a 110-tonne capacity Boeing 747 freighter will be needed for the airlift, which will take two years to supply some 14 billion doses, or almost two for every man, woman and child on Earth.

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It's a tall order, given about one-third of the global passenger fleet is still in storage, based on data from Cirium. Katherine O'Brien, the World Health Organization's head of immunisation, likens the task of distributing the vaccines after the months-long development sprint to summiting Mount Everest having reached base camp. "The climb to the peak is really about delivering the vaccines," she said on Nov 16.

Among the biggest challenges are:

Cargo capacity: There are around 2,000 dedicated freighters in use, carrying about half of all goods moved by air. The remainder typically goes in the bellies of the world's 22,000 regular jetliners. While the freighters are full, air-cargo volume has tumbled this year because so much belly capacity is sitting idle. Airlines have drafted about 2,500 passenger planes into cargo-only roles, but distribution would be easier if fleets were flying with usual frequencies to their usual destinations.

At the start at least, space will be limited. The massive undertaking is expected to begin at a peak time for cargo carriers, right as the online Christmas shopping frenzy, boosted this year by Covid-19, reaches its zenith. Pfizer plans to ship 1.3 billion doses of its vaccine by the end of next year, with Moderna producing about 500 million. AstraZeneca has manufacturing capacity for two billion doses, half of those targeted to low- and middle-income nations.

Deep freeze: The Pfizer-BioNTech SE vaccine adds an extra layer of difficulty. It must be transported at minus 70 degrees Celsius, colder than winter in Antarctica, and the companies plan to use GPS-enabled thermal sensors to track the location and temperature of each vaccine shipment. Upon arrival, the vaccine can be stored in ultra-low temperature freezers, or in a fridge in a hospital for five days at 2-to-8 degrees Celsius, or in a special Pfizer thermal shipper, in which the doses will arrive. That can be used as a temporary storage unit by refilling with dry ice for up to 15 days. Once thawed, the vials cannot be re-frozen.

Virtually no aircraft are capable of keeping items so cold. Airlines will instead rely on Pfizer's specialised containers to cool the medicine. United Airlines Holdings Inc has begun flights to ready Pfizer's vaccine for distribution if it receives regulatory approval, said a source. Delta Air Lines Inc and American Airlines Group Inc are among other carriers that said they are prepared to handle shipments of the Pfizer drug.

Storage: Despite the hurdles, a well-established global network for pharmaceutical distribution should expedite the flow of doses. Cities ranging from Miami, Dallas and London, to Liege in Belgium, Dubai, Mumbai, Singapore and Incheon in Seoul have well-established deep-freeze capabilities.

United Parcel Service Inc (UPS) has built facilities in Louisville, Kentucky, and in the Netherlands with a total of 600 deep freezers that can each hold 48,000 vials of vaccine at temperatures as low as minus 80 degrees Celsius. FedEx Corp has added freezers and refrigerated trucks to its already extensive cold-chain network, and Richard Smith, who's heading up the delivery firm's vaccine effort, has pledged to free as much air and ground capacity as needed.

Delivery firms have experience transporting flu vaccines and medical samples at low temperatures. UPS and FedEx, which mobilised earlier this year to fly tonnes of needed medical supplies into the US when the shortage was acute, have since been coordinating with vaccine makers and government officials to prepare for the vaccine rollout.

Reaching the poor: United Nations humanitarian relief agency Unicef has been recruiting airlines for its vast effort to distribute the vaccine to more than 170 countries. While transporting vials from their point of manufacture to a major hospital or clinic in a big, developed city is one thing, the challenge gets steep in emerging nations, where infrastructure to remote villages and towns may be rickety and unreliable, or even non-existent.

Unicef held a call in November with about 40 carriers to make plans for the global airlift to 92 of the world's poorest nations, for which it is leading efforts to purchase and distribute Covid vaccines. With 80 more higher-income countries that have chosen it to procure inoculations they will buy, the agency's effort will cover 70 per cent of the world's population.

Singapore, a close neighbour to some of Asia's poorest nations, should be able to target a disproportionate share of the transit, according to Alex Hungate, CEO of ground-handling giant Sats Ltd. The former Singapore Airlines unit is Iata CEIV Pharma certified in Singapore, Beijing and Bengaluru and is in the process of receiving the designation in Jakarta and Kuala Lumpur, he said.

The last mile: Delivery won't be just about airlines. Cars, buses and trucks may be required to get the vaccine to rural areas. In some places, it may need to be carried in by foot. The possibility of tampering, production of counterfeit shots and even attempts to disrupt distribution are also a concern, according to Iata.

Mr De Juniac, the Iata chief, insists that the industry is ready. "We will not disappoint," he added. BLOOMBERG