American Airlines Cargo opened a controlled room temperature (CRT) facility at its London Heathrow Airport cargo warehouse.
The new 300-square-foot (28-square-meter) facility is designed to maintain a temperature range of 15-25 degrees Celsius (59-77 degrees Fahrenheit) and will allow the airline to enhance the temperature control required for passive health care shipments such as pharmaceuticals and biologicals.
“We offer an exceptional experience for customers who are shipping time- and temperature-sensitive products, and this is just another way we’re investing in our ExpediteTC cold chain program,” said Tristan Koch, managing director of cargo sales in Europe. “This new facility will help us to ensure shipments transiting, originating or connecting in London are placed in the best possible environment while they are in our care, giving our customers the peace of mind they deserve.”
The London Heathrow CRT facility is the carrier’s first in Europe and features high-tech monitoring to log temperature data as well as passive alarming and notification.
“This new room and its constant temperature will assist shippers and forwarders with two-day packages by helping to extend the life of gel packs used within the packaging,” Koch said. “The facility will be of special interest to our Irish pharmaceutical customers, who have goods that transit London Heathrow on the way to other international destinations.”
AA is also working to build a new 30,000-square-foot dedicated cold chain facility in Philadelphia.
AA Cargo continues to see growth in its ExpediteTC cold chain program. In the first quarter of 2014, the carrier reported a 15 percent increase in passive business over the previous year.