Qatar Cargo announces Pharma Express Service from Basel

Qatar Cargo Airbus A330-200F
Qatar Cargo Airbus A330-200F (© Qatar Airways)

For its first new freighter service of 2015, Qatar Airways Cargo will launch twice weekly Airbus 330 freighter services to Basel, Switzerland, on 28 January 2015. The airline will also commence a “Pharma Express” service this month – the first of its kind in the industry, offering air freight to the pharmaceutical industry worldwide. The Pharma Express service will link two key pharma origins, Brussels and Basel, with the extensive Qatar Airways‘ network, via Doha, Qatar.

Basel has a large pharmaceutical industry and is home to the headquarters of many major pharmaceutical companies, while the Swiss chemical industry also operates largely from Basel.

Brussels and the region of Flanders in Belgium, house 146 life science companies with biotech activities, of which 50 are related to healthcare, 46 are active in the bio-based economy and 50 are life science providers.

The Pharma Express route will be served by the Airbus 330 freighter and will operate from Brussels to Basel with a final stop in Doha on Wednesdays and Saturdays.

In January 2014, Qatar Airways Cargo launched QR Pharma – an air freight service for pharmaceutical and healthcare products. QR Pharma offers both, active and passive solutions. The active solution provides temperature-controlled containers, which are designed to maintain a constant temperature throughout the entire transportation chain, and the passive solution keeps the product within a defined temperature band at all stages of the journey.

Qatar Airways