American Airlines Cargo Begins Work On State-Of-The-Art Pharmaceutical Facility In Philadelphia

American Airlines Cargo has started construction of a dedicated pharmaceutical handling facility in Philadelphia, PA. The new 25,000 square-foot facility is designed to cater for a full range of temperature sensitive products being shipped in and out of the strategically important Northeast pharmaceutical corridor of the United States.

Included within the new building will be 6,000 square feet for Controlled Room Temperature (CRT) passive shipments at +15°C and +25°C. In addition a 3,000, square foot refrigerated area will be available for shipments that need to be maintained in a +2°C to +8°C environment. A deep frozen area will cater to shipments needing to be kept at -10°C to -20°C, and also a zoned active container area with powered charging stations with space for up to 30 electronically controlled units.

The facility is expected to be completed in the fall and will be equipped with advanced technology for monitoring products with proactive alarming and will be validated to 0.25°C. There will also be full back up power generation to ensure product protection in the event of a power failure.

“This new pharmaceutical center will enable American’s provision of state of the art, dedicated services for our life science and healthcare customers. Coupled with our proven handling processes, this facility will complement our existing temperature-sensitive infrastructure enhancements throughout our network”, said Jim W. Butler, President, American Airlines Cargo. “It will allow us to meet and exceed the increasingly sophisticated expectations of those customers with specific temperature requirements both into and out of the United States.”

The opening of the Philadelphia pharmaceutical facility will coincide with the roll-out of a full ExpediteTC cold chain program across the new American network.

About American Airlines Cargo
American Airlines Cargo is a division of American Airlines Group, the holding company for American Airlines and US Airways. American provides one of the largest cargo networks in the world with cargo terminals and interline connections across the globe. Every day, American transports cargo between major cities in the United States,

Europe, Canada, Mexico, the Caribbean, Latin America and Asia. Together with American Eagle and US Airways Express, the airlines operate an average of nearly 6,700 daily flights worldwide to and from hubs in Charlotte, Chicago, Dallas/Fort Worth, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, Philadelphia, Phoenix and Washington DC.