CSMIA facilitates distribution of 43 million doses of Covid-19 vaccines since Jan

The city's Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport (CSMIA) has facilitated the distribution of around 43 million doses of Covid-19 vaccines including to overseas destinations since January.

Mumbai Airport had started airlifting the vaccines since January 13.

CSMIA has facilitated the distribution of approximately 43 million Covid-19 vaccines, weighing around 113 tonnes, to over 57 destinations, including 29 international ones, the private airport operator said in a release.

Of the total doses, 34.5 million were airlifted to various countries and the rest 8.5 million to the cities across India, it said.

The highest export of the vaccine was made to Dhaka in Bangladesh with nine million doses, followed by Morocco with six million doses and Brazil with four million doses, CSMIA said.

The airport operator said it supported over 18 airlines in the distribution across the globe with national carrier Air India and Emirates and Royal Air Morocco transporting the maximum number of doses of the total 34.5 million vaccines to international cities, it said adding that while Air India carried 15 million doses, Emirates and Royal Air Morocco airlifted 6.1 million and 6 million doses, respectively.

Budget carriers SpiceJet, IndiGo and Go Air were the three Indian carriers, airlifting the highest number of doses across domestic cities, it added.

As a pharma hub, CSMIA has a rich experience in transporting vaccines across the world and has placed a well-defined process for the faster turnaround of the vaccine and transshipment movements.

The standard operating procedure (SOPs) implemented by the airport in anticipation of the vaccine distribution saw the terminal register an average cargo processing time of just 10 minutes for domestic delivery and 25 minutes for international, right from goods acceptance to dispatch at the ramp, it said.