Alitalia Partners with va-Q-tec in Temperature-Sensitive Transport

va-Q-tec and Alitalia have signed an agreement on the transport of temperature-sensitive goods. The cooperation with the Würzburg based technology leader in thermal insulation will allow the customers of the largest Italian airline to rent high-performance passive containers. Thanks to the world-wide availability of va-Q-tec’s ‘LOAD & GO’ Service, customers are able to dependably undertake global door-to-door transports of temperature-sensitive goods. The containers reach the pick-up location fully preconditioned and guarantee constant temperature performance for over 120 hours independent of ambient temperature.

The partnership with va-Q-tec allows Alitalia to expand their portfolio of temperature controlled containers adding five passive container sizes with payload capacity of up two US/Euro palettes, offering Alitalia and their customers temperature controlled solutions ranging from -60 to +25°C. As part of the cooperation, pharmaceutical shippers and forwarding agents can order the ‘LOAD & GO’ service directly through the airline. ‘With Alitalia we added another strong partner for our network who provides an outstanding market coverage in its home country.’ says Dr. Joachim Kuhn, Chief Executive Officer of va-Q-tec AG. The medium-sized company agreed similar collaborations with Etihad Airways, other airlines and globally operating logistic service providers.

Especially manufacturers of pharmaceutical products are showing increasing demand for va-Q-tec’s high-tech transport solutions. ‘Due to an increase in the demand for transport of temperature-sensitive goods, such as medical products and biopharmaceuticals for example, growing regulatory requirements and the globalization of clinical research, uninterrupted cold chains are becoming more and more important.’ says Antonio Temporini, Alitalia Vice President Cargo.

Approximately 300 airports on five different continents are already connected to the va-Q-tec network. Furthermore, va-Q-tec along with their partners operate over 25 Network Stations all over the world. To this day, more than 1 million shipments have been realized using va-Q-tec containers and boxes all of which were temperature deviation free – a truly unparalleled performance in the industry.