Airlines are joining the fight against coronavirus.
We received our very first Covid-19 vaccine shipment from one of our
logistic partners.
We've been ready. We've been working on this for many months.
The long wait for a vaccine may be over, but distributing them to 7.8
billion people around the world is the next big challenge.
In the U.S., the population is roughly 330 million people.
Both the Pfizer and Moderna Covid-19 vaccine require two doses.
Delivering the current vaccine is being called the biggest logistical
challenge in a generation.
It's a global public health event that involves a complex web of shipping
and technology w here every step matters.
In the U.S., airlines have stepped up to become a crucial part of the
supply chain, alongside logistic giants like UPS, FedEx and DHL.
Even though it's only one part of the journey, it's a critical one.
DHL and McKinsey estimate vaccinating the world will require up to 15000
flights. American, Delta and United have been preparing since the summer
and jumped into action hours after vaccines were approved for emergency
use in the U.S..
Airlines do carry pharmaceuticals and vaccines all the time.
That's not new. This is new because of the scale.
I mean, it's kind of been compared to World War Two and the scale of it
and how many different players and factories and other facilities are
coordinating with one another at the same time, because it's such an
international crisis .
Providing just a single dose to 7.8 billion people would fill 8,000 Boeing
747 cargo aircraft.
So this is the greatest undertaking that the logistics and supply chain
industry will face, I think in its modern history.
The ability to be able to transport and the scale to be able to transport
this level of vaccines.
It's never happened before.
Here's a look at just one part of the complex journey of a vaccine.
Since the pandemic started, the world has been anxiously awaiting a
coronavirus vaccine.
This is the day we've been waiting for, v-day, vaccine day across America.
But the scale and conditions and how these vaccines need to be transported
have created massive logistical challenges for the air cargo industry.
Operation Warp Speed, the program the U.S.
government created to accelerate development, manufacturing and
distribution of Covid-19 vaccines partnered with United Parcel Service and
FedEx for vaccine distribution.
Fedex and UPS, they're in the best position to carry the vaccines to that
last mile, but they can't do it alone.
So the rest of the supply chain will also play a part.
Working along with the airlines will add additional capacity were required
to distribute the vaccines.
Fedex and UPS routinely rely on commercial airlines for support to fly
goods their networks can't handle.
In fact, commercial airlines typically carry up to 50 percent of the
world's cargo in their bellies.
Normally, you know, the U.S.
mail and Amazon packages and various other things from live animals to
electronics are all flying below us because so many planes have been taken
out. Airlines have been using especially their larger aircraft to carry
only cargo. They're pretty much desperate to find revenue wherever they
can. In March of 2020, airlines were even transporting some cargo in
passenger seats to help distribute PPE equipment at the beginning of the
pandemic. In many cases, depending on the type of cargo that is only in
the belly, that you could carry the cargo.
Without the passenger, without the baggage, you have more capacity and
more weight that can be carried.
So a 777, for example, normally can carry 10 tons on a normal passenger
flight between New York and Miami.
You could probably go to 15 to maybe 18 to 20 tons on that airplane
without the passengers and the luggage.
This lifesaving cargo is very different.
It must be kept at such frigid temperatures, airlines perform stress tests
to make sure their networks and supply chain could handle temperature and
other requirements for shipment.
The Pfizer vaccine requires a storage temperature of minus 94 degrees
Fahrenheit, while Moderna needs a temperature of minus four degrees
Fahrenheit. A temperature controlled thermal shipper box that utilizes dry
ice was created to help transport the vaccine.
These are very, very low, deep frozen temperatures, which does present some
additional difficulty in the handling of the vaccines.
On top of that, we also have the need for dry ice.
Dry ice is the substance that's used to maintain the temperatures.
The dry ice required to keep vaccines cold can be hazardous.
As it melts, it turns into carbon dioxide gas.
The Federal Aviation Administration has regulatory requirements for cargo
safety. This required airlines to get sign off to carry higher amounts of
dry ice and is normally permitted for the vaccine to remain viable.
Each container is packed with up to 50 pounds of dry ice.
Airlines have added carbon dioxide monitors to make sure crew members on
board and on the ground remain safe at any point in the supply chain.
If something happens with dry ice, something happens with anything else
that's controlling the temperature of those vaccines, they could spoil.
And there's very, very little margin for error.
The vaccines need to be delivered very quickly.
Air traffic is a lot lower than it normally is.
However, the FAA says those airplanes are going to get priority treatment
takeoffs and landings.
It's going to be treated essentially like the special cargo that it is.
However, delays can still happen.
This is something United Airlines says it's prepared for.
If there is a long delay, we can remove the pharmaceuticals from the
flight, store them in storage until there's another time that we can take
them safely. United was the first passenger airline to transport the
vaccine to the U.S.
using a Boeing 777.
Each plane is capable of holding more than one million doses.
American and Delta have started flying vaccine shipments as well.
All three airlines have experience with cold cargo from pharmaceuticals,
including the flu vaccine to frozen food, and have facilities throughout
the country that can accommodate freezer storage.
Big carriers like United, American and Delta will play a large role, while
niche airlines like Alaska and Hawaiian will likely be involved in
transporting vaccines to harder to reach places where their networks have
a footprint. The military has been considered and may be playing a part in
the distribution in this country and in other locations may take the lead,
will depend on the country and the support that those countries require.
The complexity of flying vaccines is a welcome challenge to airlines,
though. It brings unexpected revenue to an industry that has been
devastated by the coronavirus.
Globally, the airline industry is expected to lose 157 billion in 2020 in
2021, making 2020 the worst financial year in aviation history.
The vaccines are going to be paid by the government, so none of us in the
United States will have to pay for the vaccine that initial dose.
State government, along with county city government, have allocated
budgets designed to handle some of the costs associated with this
endeavor. And then obviously a lot of the private sector companies have
dedicated some of their budget to this effort as well.
Airlines are getting paid to do this.
So cargo revenue for U.S.
airlines, which generally don't have dedicated planes just for cargo, had
always been a pretty small part of the business.
The bulk of the revenue was coming from passengers flying on planes and
other parts of the business.
In the pandemic, all of that has kind of turned on its head.
It's become more important to airlines in decades.
E-commerce demand is there.
There's international shipping demand.
And because so many airlines have cut passenger flights back because of
the lack of demand, we lose that belly capacity of those passenger planes.
So airlines are doing whatever they can to get money from cargo.
Passenger traffic is estimated to be down 67 percent in 2020.
That lack of demand means less aircraft.
There's limited capacity air capacity available today versus, you know, a
year ago, let's say. So that also is going to be a difficult challenge to
meet along with, just remember that everything else has to move as well.
We anticipate every pallet of vaccines will require about 25 to 30 pallets
of accessories to go with.
That encompasses syringes and swabs and all the other
accouterments that go into a vaccination program.
In October, FedEx said it was nearing capacity and encouraged customers to
ship early to avoid delays in packages for the 2020 holiday season.
Covid-19 restrictions and the emergency approval of Covid-19 vaccines has
added more strain to the shipping industry.
FedEx and UPS told a Senate Transportation subcommittee that vaccines will
receive priority over any other items.
They're working on this 24/7.
This is something that, you know, every logistics professional does on a
daily basis. No matter where in the logistics chain you may fall, whether
you're at an airline, forwarder, trucking company, you know, at an
airport. The bottom line is it's about saving people's lives.
And it could get people traveling again and help save the airline
industry. The airlines other interest is getting that vaccine to as many
people as possible because their future pretty much depends on people
getting vaccinated. Executives said we see, you know, we see a return of
of people's confidence in booking travel again once those vaccines are
widely out there and people are vaccinated.
It's an urgent project pretty much for the airlines.