Airlines gear up to transport vaccines that could revive travel

By Niraj Chokshi, The New York Times

Months before anyone knew which of the coronavirus vaccine candidates would pull ahead or when they’d be available, airlines were trying to figure out how to transport doses around the world.

Over the summer, American Airlines, Delta Air Lines and United Airlines spoke with government officials, pharmaceutical companies and experts to understand where vaccines might be produced, how they would be shipped and how best to position people and planes to get them moving. More recently, they have flown batches of vaccines for use in trials and research or to prepare for wider distribution.

The industry will play a vital role in moving billions of doses aboard hundreds of flights in the months ahead, putting underused planes and crews to work while circulating the very medicine that airlines hope will get people to book tickets again. But the flights are just one segment of a global relay race in which airlines will have to be ready to move at a moment’s notice.

“When a request comes in, it’s going to be urgent and we have to act immediately,” said Manu Jacobs, who oversees shipments of pharmaceuticals and other specialty products for United.

After running tests that showed it was safe, United asked the Federal Aviation Administration last month to raise the limit so it could fly the Pfizer vaccine from Brussels International Airport to Chicago O’Hare International Airport, according to an F.A.A. letter. The agency agreed, allowing the airline to carry up to 15,000 pounds of dry ice aboard a Boeing 777-224, compared with the previous limit of 3,000 pounds, according to the letter. A single 777 can carry up to one million doses, the airline said.

Now, airlines are preparing to run vaccine-only flights: planes that are chock-full of freezer boxes or coolers, with a skeleton crew.In mid-November, American Airlines conducted a series of trial flights from Miami to South America to put thermal packaging and its own handling procedures to the test. It has also already transported shipments for vaccine trials around the world. Other preparations, though critical, are more mundane. Those include lining up the certifications and authorizations to transport the goods, ensuring that handoffs of the vaccine will be perfectly timed, and making sure that the planes needed are in the right place at the right time.

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