Virgin Atlantic Cargo receives authorisation for its global HQ and Pharma Zone at Heathrow

Virgin Atlantic Cargo has been granted a wholesale distribution authorisation (WDA) for its global headquarters operations and its new Pharma Zone at Heathrow Airport, which confirms the airline’s compliance with good distribution practice (GDP) and its ability to maintain quality and integrity of medicinal products for human use.

The WDA accreditation — established by the UK Government’s Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) — for Virgin Atlantic Cargo’s global headquarters follows that gained by its handling partner dnata for its Cargo Point operation at the airport, which incorporates the Pharma Zone.

“The standards and requirements for everyone involved in the transportation of pharmaceuticals and life science products set out clear guidelines of what is expected of airlines serving customers in this growing market,” explained Dominic Kennedy, managing director of Virgin Atlantic Cargo. “We have been listening to our customers and responding to what they want. WDA was the regulatory compliance they asked us to achieve and now we meet their requirements at both our global headquarters and Pharma Zone. We can measure our customers’ approval by the increasing pharma bookings they are giving us. We are confident 2018 will be a record year for our pharma and life science business as customers commit to airlines like Virgin which are delivering tangible benefits.”

“This is a further important enhancement of the pharma services we can offer to our customers and has been achieved with the fantastic support of our partners dnata and ASC Associates,” added Darren Sherlock, manager — Products and Partnerships at Virgin Atlantic Cargo. “We will continue to work closely with our customers to ensure that every benefit we deliver is based on what they need.”

This latest enhancement of Virgin Atlantic’s products and services for pharmaceuticals and life science shipments is expected to lead to further growth in volumes. In January, the airline also increased the range of active containers it offers for temperature-controlled cargoes by becoming the first UK airline to approve the use of CSafe’s new RAP unit.

The Pharma Zone is a secure and segregated facility with GDP-trained staff dedicated to the handling and storage of pharma shipments. It incorporates walk-in pods for loose pharma shipments and six chambers for pallet storage, which can accommodate 24 PMCs in 2-8°C or 15-25°C temperature ranges, as well as multiple charging points for active containers. In addition to CSafe’s new RAP container, Virgin also offers customers the opportunity to utilise CSafe’s RKN unit and Envirotainer’s RKN t2, RAP t2, RKN e1 and RAP e2 units for temperature-controlled pharma products.