Dubai Airports and GMR Announce the Formation of a Logistics Corridor for the Global Distribution of COVID-19 Vaccines

Dubai Airports, operator of Dubai International (DXB) and Dubai World Central (DWC), and GMR Hyderabad (GMR-HYD) have joined forces to create a Covid-19 vaccine distribution corridor.

Home to 88 global airlines including Dubai’s flagship carrier Emirates, and 12 international and 400 local and regional freight forwarders, Dubai Airports with its interlinked cargo facilities at DXB and DWC and in partnership with dnata cargo, the airport service provider in Dubai, the HYD-DXB vaccine corridor will provide capacity to seamlessly handle up to 300 tonnes of vaccines per day.

The announcement follows the formalization of an agreement recently after months of preparations by the two entities to design and create a seamless end-to-end logistics solution. The HYD-DXB vaccine corridor connects major vaccine manufacturers in India with markets around the world via Dubai’s state-of-the-art cargo hub.

“A major surge in demand for the efficient, safe and reliable global distribution of high volumes of Covid-19 vaccines is expected in the coming months and as the world’s preeminent hub of choice, we wanted to be ready to respond to and accommodate that demand. Our partnership with GMR-Hyderabad is timed perfectly just as the global race to develop the vaccines enters the final stage. This corridor is the result of our proactive strategy to be ready with innovative, collaborative and agile shipping solutions for the industry,” said Paul Griffiths, CEO of Dubai Airports.

SGK Kishore, executive director – south and chief innovation officer at GMR Airports, said. “As the world embarks on an unprecedented vaccination drive to combat COVID-19, our collaboration with Dubai Airports in the form of an exclusive vaccine air freight corridor – HYDXB-VAXCOR will play a key role in enabling seamless, safe and efficient shipment of Covid-19 vaccines to and from Hyderabad, the pharma capital of South Asia.”

“We are excited to join forces with Dubai and Hyderabad Airports to ensure safe and efficient transportation of the COVID-19 vaccine across the region and beyond. Over the past few years, we’ve significantly invested in state-of-the-art facilities and the latest technologies to enhance our pharma handling capabilities. Our advanced infrastructure enables us to deliver the highest level of service and safety for our partners and their customers in this unique project,” said Gary Chapman, president of dnata.

“Emirates SkyCargo is delighted to support the vaccine distribution corridor initiative between Dubai and Hyderabad Airports which will greatly facilitate the rapid and secure transportation of COVID-19 vaccines from Hyderabad to Dubai and beyond. Hyderabad is an important station for us in terms of pharma transportation and is part of our international Pharma Corridors initiative for enhanced cool chain protection for pharmaceuticals. During the COVID-19 pandemic, we have continued to transport important volumes of temperature-sensitive pharmaceutical cargo from Hyderabad and the region. Emirates SkyCargo provides robust flight connectivity to Hyderabad with more than 10 weekly flights on our widebody Boeing 777 aircraft. Together with our charter capability, we are well positioned to transport the COVID-19 vaccines from Hyderabad to our hub in Dubai where we have extensive EU GDP certified infrastructure for pharma, including a dedicated airside hub to store and distribute COVID-19 vaccines before transporting them onwards to the rest of the world including emerging markets,” said Nabil Sultan, Emirates divisional senior vice president of cargo.

Dubai Airports and GMR-Hyderabad offer a great combination of opportunity and solution. Hyderabad is the world’s emerging vaccine capital with five major vaccine producers in its vicinity, while Dubai, with its advanced aviation and logistics infrastructure, geocentric location and superior global network, is perfectly positioned as the gateway and distribution hub to efficiently deliver the vaccines to hundreds of cities across Europe, Africa, the Americas and the Middle East.