Pharma, healthcare and cold chain
Pharma air charter for temperature-controlled shipments
Submit a requirement any time — no account needed · first response usually within 60 minutes · 24/7 for AOG and time-critical. Optional: business account for status tracking
Pharmaceutical cargo must stay within its labelled temperature range from pick-up to delivery. On a charter, the aircraft, the ground time and the handling can be planned around that range. CCN coordinates operators, handlers and the shipper's packaging set-up; responsibility for the product and its GDP qualification stays with the shipper.
GDP-aligned sourcing
The deliverable is an in-spec temperature record, not just an arrival time.
CCN is an independent broker and operates no aircraft. Each mission is placed with a regulated operator after comparing several options. How independent brokerage works.
What CCN handles on a pharma charter
- Matching the temperature range to aircraft cabin settings and ground time
- Coordinating active containers (e.g. powered units) or passive packaging
- Checking cool-room and handling capacity at both airports
- Planning short tarmac exposure and shaded or cooled transfer
- Aligning data-logger placement and read-out with the shipper
- Planning battery and dry-ice declarations where active units or dry ice are used
Ranges and packaging are explained in temperature-controlled air freight.
Dry ice and lithium batteries in active units are dangerous goods.
Food and flowers in the cool chain are covered under perishables charter.
When a pharma charter is the right choice — and when it is not
A good fit when
- — Volume or container count exceeds scheduled cool-chain capacity
- — Transfers at hubs would add unacceptable temperature risk
- — A launch, trial or emergency requires a fixed date
Usually not the right choice when
- — A few passive boxes fit on a scheduled flight with qualified handling
- — The product is not temperature sensitive within normal cargo conditions
- — A direct scheduled service with cool-chain handling exists
General freighter charter details are on cargo charter.
Urgent medical supplies may also need time-critical air freight.
What the desk needs for a pharma offer
Full checklist: what a firm cargo charter quote needs.
- 01Temperature range (e.g. +2 °C to +8 °C, +15 °C to +25 °C, frozen)
- 02Active or passive solution, with container type and count
- 03Maximum allowed time outside controlled conditions
- 04GDP requirements and any shipper audit or qualification needs
- 05Data logger type and who reads it out
- 06Dry ice or battery quantities, if any
Freighters for pharma charters (indicative)
Wide-body freighters take active containers on the main deck; cabin temperature settings must be confirmed with the operator.
- Boeing 767-300FPayload: 53,977–54,884 kg (by engine)Main deck door: 3.40 m × 2.54 m (side)
- Boeing 777FPayload: ≈ 102,000 kgMain deck door: 3.72 m × 3.05 m (side)
- Boeing 747-400FPayload: 112,900 kg (747-8F: ≈ 134,000 kg — indicative value, not manufacturer-verified)Main deck side door: 3.4 m wide × 3.1 m high (clear opening)
Indicative — depends on route, fuel, density and operator. CCN operates no aircraft; types shown are examples operators offer, not a fleet.
Limits to check for temperature-controlled cargo
- Cabin temperature range the operator can hold for the type
- Cool-room capacity and opening hours at both airports
- Power supply for active containers on the ground
- Ambient temperatures on the ramp at the time of loading
From temperature brief to delivery
- 01You send product range, containers and GDP requirements.
- 02The desk checks operators, cabin settings and handlers.
- 03Timeline and handover points are agreed; logger plan is confirmed.
- 04Cargo flies under the agreed conditions and logger data is handed over.
What a pharma charter offer contains
- Aircraft type, operator and registration where already allocated
- Routing, technical stops and planned timings (local times)
- Usable payload and volume for your cargo on this routing
- Price basis (per flight, per block hour or per rotation), currency and validity
- Inclusions and exclusions — handling, fuel, permits, insurance, positioning
- Subject-to conditions: availability at signature, permits, slots, operator acceptance
- Agreed cabin temperature setting and handling at each transfer
Questions
Frequently asked questions
See all questionsActive and passive units up to full pallet size, subject to aircraft compatibility, power provision where required and handling capability at both stations.
We source the equipment and handling that hold the specified range and provide the data record. The commitment is documented per mission with the operator and handling agent.
Yes. Operator and handler capabilities are checked against your GDP and quality requirements before booking.
Through the packaging solution and the ground process, not just the aircraft. Active containers hold a defined temperature range under their own power, passive solutions rely on validated insulation and phase-change material for a stated duration, and the aircraft hold provides a controlled but not precision environment.
The risk sits on the ramp and in transit, so cool dolly, limited tarmac exposure and a short handover chain matter more than the flight itself.
Standard pharmaceutical ranges of 2 to 8 degrees Celsius, 15 to 25 degrees Celsius controlled ambient, frozen at minus 20 degrees Celsius and deep frozen with dry ice are all routinely moved. The constraint is usually the dry ice quantity permitted on the specific aircraft and the availability of temperature-controlled storage at the transit or destination station.
Both are checked before the aircraft is confirmed.
We source operators and handling agents with the relevant good distribution practice capability and pharma-certified facilities where the lane offers them, and we specify the required handling in writing to every party in the chain. Certification varies by station, so on lanes where a certified facility does not exist we design the process around minimal exposure and continuous monitoring instead.
The gaps are named in the offer rather than glossed over.
Yes, with data loggers or real-time telemetry, depending on the container solution and the airline's policy on transmitting devices. Real-time monitoring is standard on high-value clinical and biologic shipments and allows intervention while the shipment is still recoverable. Logger data should be part of the release documentation, not an afterthought.
