Turkish Cargo, the cargo arm of Turkey's flag carrier airline Turkish Airlines (THY) aided many nations in the world to access COVID-19 vaccines by delivering 335 million coronavirus jabs to 61 countries last year, the company said on Wednesday.
"By establishing a corridor between over 400 international destinations, we ensured that vaccines remained accessible for all," said Ahmet Bolat, chairperson of the company's board and executive committee.
"Especially considering the low number of carriers flying to Africa, Turkish Cargo had an important mission to make sure people there could have access to vaccines," Bolat added.
Dubbed the world's fastest-growing air cargo carrier, the company said it ensured the continuity of the international medical product chain during the pandemic period and achieved significant success in vaccine shipments.
The company carried the highest number of vaccine doses to Turkey last year, followed by 100 million doses to Brazil.
Countries where more than 1 million vaccine doses were delivered included African nations such as Mauritania, Madagascar, Rwanda and Congo, read a company statement.
Among the vaccines transported by Turkish Cargo last year were 200 million doses of the Chinese CoronaVac jab, 120 million doses of the BioNTech vaccine and 12 million doses of the AstraZeneca shot, the statement said.
Turkish Cargo reached an 8% market share in the category of medical products during 2021, it added.
The carrier noted that it carries important medical packages with delicate temperature and time constraints, including medicine, vaccines, biotechnological products, diagnosis samples, sensitive medical devices, organs and tissues, with IATA-CEIV Pharma certification quality standards.
The company suggested that Turkey was on its way to becoming a global center for medical product transportation with Turkish Cargo’s new air cargo facility SMARTIST at Istanbul Airport.
The complex consists of a closed area of 340,000 square meters (3 million square feet) and has an annual capacity of 4 million tons.
The company says the facility offers significant advantages for quickly and securely transporting medicine and medical products with its heat and temperature-controlled area of 9,000 square meters.
It noted that the globalization and increased demand for the pharmaceutical industry due to the COVID-19 pandemic also increased the demand for air cargo logistics.
"Turkish Cargo aims to carry Turkey to become a medical center for the world with its new investments and expert teams. With parking areas for cargo freighters around the facility, it is expected that the successful carrier will increase its service quality and market share with the SMARTIST facility," it noted.