Vienna Airport, K+N enter pharma handling agreement

Yesterday, Vienna International Airport (VIE) and Kuehne + Nagel Austria announced the signing of an agreement establishing Kuehne + Nagel Austria as the “preferred partner” for the handling of pharma shipments at the airport. 

Under the agreement, Kuehne + Nagel Austria is granted an exclusive handling area within VIE’s Vienna Pharma Handling Center (VPHC). At the VPHC, Kuehne + Nagel Austria will work with VIE to provide end-to-end shipping services for pharma products moving through the airport.  

The 1,600 square meter VPHC, which the airport opened in December 2018, is located directly adjacent to the apron and a short distance from aircraft positions on the tarmac. According to Kuehne + Nagel Austria’s national airfreight manager, Patrick Mair, “this enables a continuous cold–chain for our shipments and seamless, temperature-controlled transportation to and from the aircraft.” 

Twenty-three countries can now be reached within a day and a half, and 15 countries can even be supplied within 24 hours of travel time via the Vienna pharma hub, according to Flughafen Wien AG COO Julian Jäger. 

Despite declining cargo volumes at VIE over the first five months of 2019, air cargo and logistics providers are still demonstrating continued interest in growing operations at the airport. Since the start of the year, VIE welcomed DHL’s opening of its new logistics gateway hub, Swissport’s launch of a second air cargo warehouse and cargo-partner establishment of a facility at VIE.