Cathay Cargo has assisted Hong Kong International Airport (HKIA) and Miami International Airport in establishing Pharma.Aero’s second airport-to-airport “pharma corridor” for pharmaceutical shipments to and from Hong Kong through Pharma.Aero’s Pharma Corridor 3.0 project. 

Pharma.Aero is a specialist collaboration between teams in air transport and the pharma industry, including shippers such as Johnson & Johnson and Pfizer. The stakeholders work together to establish excellence in logistics for temperature-controlled life science and medical shipments between quality assured (IATA CEIV Pharma or GDP) airport communities and their services, plus airlines. Cathay Cargo is a long-time and strategic member of Pharma.Aero.

“With our eight weekly Boeing 747 freighter flights from Hong Kong to Miami, we are delighted to now validate the Miami to Hong Kong pharma corridor,” says Cathay Director Cargo Tom Owen. “Leveraging Pharma.Aero protocols, our Cathay Pharma solution, Ultra Track technology and IATA CEIV Pharma assurance, we will ensure the safe and efficient transport of medical products from Miami to Hong Kong.”

Cathay Cargo previously assisted in establishing the first pharma corridor between HKIA and Brussels Airport back in 2019. In December 2024, Cathay Pacific announced the resumption of passenger flights to Brussels from the start of the 2025 summer season, so Cathay Cargo will be operating services on both these corridors later this year. 

Cathay Cargo Customer Solutions Manager Janice Kwan explains that the two corridors offer customers higher levels of assurance on those routes. “Both corridors are CEIV-validated throughout to include carriers, airports, ground-handling agents and cargo terminal operators, but with the added assurance of the involvement of pharma industry stakeholders on top of IATA’s own standards,” she says.

The validation for a corridor requires assessing risk all along the shipment journey. This can be a time-consuming process, with detailed analysis of shipment data from 20 to 40 trial flights before a corridor is established. The new corridor has been established to standards developed in the Pharma.Aero Pharma Corridor 2.0 project. The two pharma corridors via Hong Kong are useful links for two of the biggest production markets, with Puerto Rico for Miami and Brussels for Europe for exports into Asia.

“We will once again have a direct service from Brussels to Hong Kong starting this summer, which will provide stronger support to Belgian pharma exports, while most of the pharma shipments we carry from Miami to Hong Kong originate from Puerto Rico, destined for north-east and South East Asia, the Chinese Mainland and South West Pacific,” says Kwan. 

“These two corridors are two of the most valuable pharma lanes, and the longest part of the shipment journey. We apply the same pharma handling principles to the extended sectors whether that’s through our interline partners to Miami or via truck from our European bases. As these are airport community projects involving all air-cargo stakeholders, it’s great that HKIA is being recognised as a key transshipment centre linking two corridors, making it a natural hub for pharma.”

Owen added: “Following on from our first Brussels-Hong Kong Pharma.Aero-validated trade lane, and through the leadership of our dedicated teams and partners, Cathay Cargo will continue to advance global supply chain integrity and service excellence logistics in transporting healthcare products that matter to the world.”