Air Cargo's Role in Preserving Pharma Integrity in Transit

Jordan Kohlbeck, Head of Pharmaceuticals at IAG Cargo, in an exclusive interview with Thiruamuthan, Assistant Editor of India Pharma Outlook, discusses how India’s growing role as a global pharmaceutical exporter is driving transformation in the air cargo sector. He highlights advancements in cold-chain logistics, digital innovation, regulatory compliance, and collaborative partnerships that ensure the safe and efficient transport of temperature-sensitive medicines worldwide.

Jordan Kohlbeck, a strategic pharmaceutical logistics leader, brings deep expertise in cold chain management and operational excellence, specializing in temperature-controlled transport, life sciences supply chains, and customer-driven innovation for global pharmaceutical distribution.

With India emerging as a major pharmaceutical exporter, how is the air cargo sector adapting to the surge in temperature-sensitive and high-value medicine shipments?

India’s rapid emergence as a global pharmaceutical hub has driven a sharp rise in temperature-sensitive and high-value medicine shipments. In response, the air cargo sector is making significant investments in cold-chain infrastructure and digital solutions to ensure the safe transit of critical healthcare products.

For example, we at IAG Cargo have recorded a 22 percent year-on-year increase in Constant Climate volumes in 2024, with more than half of these shipments originating from India and Ireland. Constant Climate is our specialist cold-chain solution, purpose-built for transporting pharmaceuticals such as vaccines, biologics, and diagnostic samples.

Today, our network includes around 100 approved Constant Climate stations worldwide. We have also enhanced infrastructure at key hubs, including our Constant Climate Quality Centres in Dublin and Madrid, as well as the state-of-the-art New Premia facility at Heathrow. These hubs provide rigorously regulated storage and handling environments between +2c to +8c and +15c to +25c, safeguarding product efficacy and integrity throughout the journey. This ensures life-saving medicines reach patients in optimal condition, strengthening global healthcare supply chains.

Also Read: India's Path to Billion-Dollar Drugs: Building a Strong Ecosystem

Cold chain handling remains the single biggest risk to pharma integrity during air transit, so what gaps still exist in India’s cargo ecosystem to address this challenge?

At IAG Cargo, when delivering our Constant Climate product, quality is at the heart of everything we do. Navigating regulatory compliance is a welcomed challenge to us as a logistics provider, ensuring that we adhere to relevant industry regulations, such as good distribution practice, provides a strong reassurance to the wider supply chain that we can be trusted to deliver, and that the end-user receives a pure, potent and stable medicine.

India currently ranks among the top three global pharmaceutical producers by volume and is the world’s largest supplier of generic medicines. With FY 2023–24 pharmaceutical exports reaching 27.9 billion US dollars, up 9.4 percent year-on-year, the sector is a critical component of the country’s export economy. A significant portion of these shipments—vaccines, biologics, and active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs)—require tightly controlled cold-chain logistics, which in turn necessitate air cargo capabilities that meet globally accepted standards.

Only about 8–10 percent of cold chain operators are WHO-GDP compliant - most of the market is fragmented, with over 3,500 players and limited pharma-grade capabilities.

Visibility throughout the supply chain is something that we encourage. Capability of live-monitoring is growing, within the industry, with AI, IoT, blockchain, RFID, and predictive analytics increasingly deployed to monitor temperature, track routes, and prevent spoilage - ensuring compliance and transparency.

Advanced tools like temperature-controlled ULDs and real-time tracking are transforming air cargo operations, but how effectively are they being deployed across India’s major hubs?

The shipment tracking we offer to customers provides reassurance regarding the status of their shipment. Shipments from major Indian hubs such as Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad, and Bangalore connect directly to our European gateways and onward to over 250 destinations worldwide.

For instance, we at IAG Cargo will work closely with partners such as the Serum Institute of India to ensure that critical vaccine and medicine shipments move seamlessly through our network, enabling us to deliver hope across continents. From India, we transport life-saving vaccines, including Diphtheria, Tetanus, BCG, r-Hepatitis B, Measles, Mumps, Rubella, Pneumococcal, and COVID-19 to Africa, the Americas and across the globe for their national immunisation programmes, saving millions of lives throughout the world. 

Strict compliance with WHO GDP and CDSCO guidelines is essential for global pharma credibility, so how is this shaping infrastructure investment in Indian air pharma corridors?

At IAG Cargo, we are strongly committed to pharmaceutical logistics and fully recognise the critical role that WHO, GDP, and CDSCO guidelines play in safeguarding the integrity of pharmaceutical products. These standards are not just regulatory benchmarks; they are essential for ensuring that medicines and vaccines reach patients safely, especially across long international supply chains. The growing emphasis on GDP compliance is clearly influencing infrastructure developments across Indian air pharma corridors.

There is a marked industry-wide push towards temperature-controlled facilities, real-time monitoring capabilities, and standardised quality systems all aimed at building confidence in India’s role as a global pharmaceutical hub. At IAG Cargo, we’ve aligned our operations with these evolving demands. We operate three GDP-certified global hubs in London Heathrow (LHR), Madrid (MAD), and Dublin (DUB), and have access to around 100 Constant Climate stations worldwide. Our 10,470m² temperature-controlled warehouse, which includes a dedicated Constant Climate Quality Centre with chambers operating at +2°C to +8°C and +15°C to +25°C, enables us to handle temperature-sensitive shipments with precision.

In addition, through strategic partnerships with Envirotainer, CSafe, DoKaSch, and SkyCell, we offer a wide-ranging leasing portfolio for active and passive containers. Our operations are governed by a stringent quality management system to ensure compliance and excellence in every movement of this highly specialized product category.

We believe such infrastructure, both within India and across global corridors, is not only necessary for regulatory compliance but also essential for supporting equitable healthcare access worldwide. At IAG Cargo, we remain committed to enabling the safe, compliant, and efficient movement of pharmaceuticals, including life-saving vaccines, to the communities that need them most.

Also Read: Pharmaceutical Procurement Strategies: How to Optimize Costs

Closer collaboration between airlines, ground handlers, and pharma manufacturers can significantly cut shipment risks, so what successful models are already in practice in India?

In India, successful pharmaceutical air cargo operations are built on close, collaborative partnerships across the entire supply chain, from production and ground handling to flight execution. A prime example is the partnership between IAG Cargo and the Serum Institute of India, which highlights how trust underpins everything we do.

At every stage, whether at the Serum Institute’s facility or within our dedicated hubs, temperature is continuously monitored and tightly controlled. Our specialist teams manage each consignment with a tailored approach, selecting the right containers and designing optimal routing to maintain integrity throughout transit.

Even in an increasingly digitalised world, pharmaceutical logistics remains a people business. Our people bring deep expertise and real-time judgement that cannot be automated and which is even more powerful when combined with our digital tools and functionality.

By emphasising mutual trust and collaborative capability, we ensure high-stakes pharma consignments are handled with the precision, foresight, and care they require.

Looking ahead, what technological innovations and policy changes will most transform India’s air cargo capability for safeguarding pharma integrity over the next decade?

India is already a major hub for producing medicines worldwide. The new Free Trade Agreement between the UK and India is expected to make it even easier to move pharmaceutical products between the two countries, strengthening India’s role in global medicine supply chains. By streamlining regulations and opening new trade lanes, the agreement will likely accelerate the movement of temperature-sensitive and high-value medicines between the two markets.

This comes at a time when digitalisation is transforming air cargo operations, providing greater visibility, predictive insights, and real-time tracking that enhance reliability for customers.

India is a vital market for our business, and as digital tools reshape how we plan and manage complex pharmaceutical shipments, we are well-positioned to help customers leverage these advancements to deliver life-saving treatments faster and more efficiently.

Our hubs ensure shipments are stored and handled in tightly regulated conditions, maintaining product efficacy and integrity throughout the journey. Combined with our expansive network, specialist expertise, and consistent handling standards, this enables us to deliver critical treatments reliably to patients around the world, supporting global healthcare supply chains.