Lufthansa Cargo opened new Pharma Facilities in Munich, Germany and Chicago, the United States in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, the company confirmed.

On August 20, 2020, the new “Lufthansa Cargo Pharma Hub Munich” was opened at Munich airport (MUC). It provides 1,000 square meters of space with 96 pallets for pharmaceutical cargo in two different temperature ranges and a freezer facility.

“With the new Pharma-Hub at our hub in Munich, we have created a state-of-the-art infrastructure for temperature-sensitive freight that will guarantee our customers even higher transport quality for their pharma shipments in the future,” Herald Gloy, Member of Lufthansa Cargo Board said in a statement. The press release reads that the relevance of “stable supply chains and fast transport of medicines or vaccines” were made apparent in the context of the global COVID-19 pandemic.

In addition to expanding its pharma cargo holding in Germany, Lufthansa (LHAB) (LHA) has also opened a similar 750 square meter pharmaceutical facility in Chicago’s O’Hare Airport (ORD) in the US. 

Lufthansa Cargo has confirmed to AeroTime News that the pandemic instigated this growth in the EU and overseas to the US with COVID-19 vaccine distribution as a focal point of the future.

“The expansion of our storage capacity for temperature-sensitive freight at both stations was indeed decided and prepared before the upcoming of the Corona virus,” a Lufthansa Cargo representative confirmed to AeroTime News in an e-mailed. “However, it will certainly help us in a future distribution of COVID-19 vaccine. Furthermore, the current corona crisis once again underlines the importance of a well-functioning infrastructure, especially with regard to pharmaceutical shipments.”