American Airlines Cargo has started daily widebody flights between San Juan Luis Munoz Marin Airport and Philadelphia International Airport, connecting the two important pharma hubs.

The daily Airbus A330-200 is an addition to the two narrowbody flights in operation, connecting Puerto Rico, a global hotspot for pharmaceutical manufacturing with 12 of the world’s top 20 having a presence and many of them operating from more than one location, to Philadelphia, home to AA Cargo’s 25,000 square foot pharmaceutical facility.

American Airlines Cargo vice president sales, Roger Samways says: “Demand from customers for even greater access between these two important pharma hubs is significant and growing. A daily widebody service is the perfect way to meet shipper and forwarder needs, and shows the collaborative way in which we can provide on-going support to the industry.”

The Philadelphia facility has 24/7 active monitoring and full backup power generators, different temperature-control options include a 6,000-square-foot room for Controlled Room Temperature shipments, a 3,000-square-foot space that maintains a cold environment, a deep frozen area, and a zoned active container management area with powered charging stations for up to 30 electronically controlled containers.

It is also currently on track to be one of the airline’s first locations in the world to achieve IATA CEIV status.

The A330-200 provides increased cargo capacity compared to narrowbody flights and can cater for movements of other general cargo including mobile phones, medical instruments and aircraft parts.