Connecting the World and Delivering Hope

At the height of the pandemic, United dropped from nearly 5,000 daily flights to just a handful. However, United Cargo had plans to keep us flying.

This is a story of how Good Leads the Way during United’s 100-year history and how United Cargo was the first commercial airline to deliver the COVID-19 vaccine. 

In the months after the pandemic started in March 2020, scientists and pharmaceutical companies were working around the clock to develop a COVID-19 vaccine. It was clear that once a vaccine was ready, billions of doses would need to be transported both safely and rapidly across the world.

United Cargo was already thinking about that challenge and remained in close contact with pharmaceutical companies developing vaccines, particularly in Brussels – home to the main production site working on the vaccine. Established as a trusted shipper within the pharma industry, United had the foresight to go a step further and think, “How can we (United) help in this global effort and do our part using our resources and network?” 

From those initial questions, United’s COVID-19 Vaccine Readiness Task Force was born to help ensure we had the people, products, services and partnerships in place to support vaccine distribution when the time came.

The first available COVID-19 vaccine was based on mRNA technology, an innovative approach that required storage temperatures to be below –70°C. At the time, dry ice was the only viable way to maintain those ultra-cold temperatures. Unfortunately, since dry ice releases carbon dioxide gas as it warms, aviation regulations strictly limit how much can be carried on an aircraft. So, if vaccines were going to quickly reach people, a new solution was needed.

The COVID-19 Vaccine Readiness Task Force had an ambitious goal: request approval from the FAA to allow flights to carry 7,000 kilograms of dry ice per flight to keep the vaccines chilled and viable during transportation.

United’s Tech Ops team supported these critical mission requirements and temporarily reassigned an engineer to Brussels to oversee processes at the origin of the vaccine flights. This was no small feat at a time when global travel had largely come to a halt.

Using a scale sourced specifically for the project, the engineer weighed the containers every hour and documented the changes to measure how much carbon dioxide was released as the dry ice evaporated.

Simultaneously, passenger flights were limited, which meant many shipments would move on freight-only flights. Aircraft configuration and weight balance became critical considerations; it was calculated that the team would be capable of safely increasing dry ice volumes on 777 fleet by up to 400%.

For weeks, the Task Force prepared operational plans and waited for word from regulators. Just two days before the first planned flight, the FAA approved United’s request to increase the volume of dry ice.  

On November 27, 2020, the flight departed Brussels (BRU) bound for Chicago O’Hare (ORD), carrying the first batches of the COVID-19 vaccines to the United States.  

In the year that followed, United Cargo moved 82 million lbs of medical-related shipments during the pandemic and moved 1 million+ doses of vaccines accommodated on a single 777-200. By March 2022, the billionth COVID-19 vaccine was shipped from BRU to ORD.

“We are grateful to have helped to distribute a vaccine that without a doubt saved many, many lives,” shared United Cargo Managing Director of Strategic Partners & Specialty Products Manu Jacobs.

As the airline celebrates 100 years of connecting the world, the undertaking to deliver the first COVID-19 vaccines remains a powerful reminder that United Cargo is always there to move what matters most.