American Airlines Cargo has added Envirotainer e1 and e2 containers to its temperature-control healthcare shipping solutions. Effective November 1, American will begin accepting both containers.

The airline is the first U.S. passenger carrier to receive official carriage approval for the larger RAP e2 unit and offer the full suite of Envirotainer products to customers.

The Envirotainer RKN e1 unit utilizes compressor cooling and electric heating for shipments requiring additional temperature control throughout transport. The larger RAP e2 is an actively temperature-controlled container with an insulated shell designed to provide the superior protection necessary for the global shipment of highly-sensitive healthcare products. The e2 container can handle any desired set temperature between zero and 25 degrees Celsius (32 degrees to 77 degrees Fahrenheit) for the transport of medicines across the globe, regardless of ambient conditions.

“American is extremely excited to have received our approvals for carriage of the Envirotainer e1 and e2 containers,” said Tom Grubb, manager of cold chain strategy at American. “Envirotainer was our original Active solutions partner at the cold chain launch of the ExpediteTC° program. With these options, American continues enhancement of the ExpediteTC° service offerings and can provide the capabilities desired by our customers.”

The American Airlines ExpediteTC° program is the carrier’s commitment to provide world-class temperature-controlled shipping for manufacturers and logistics customers in the pharmaceuticals sector. “Pharmaceuticals and healthcare customers rely most heavily on the air cargo industry to provide a consistent, transparent and quality experience for these sensitive products shipped by air,” noted Grubb.

Introducing these modern containers into American’s expanding cold-chain network enables the airline to offer further enhancements to the temperature-control capabilities available to customers. Major benefits include superior insulation properties, extensive internal space and the ability to maintain 35-plus hours of battery life on a single charge in extreme conditions and up to 100 hours in a typical shipment scenario.

“Following the FAA approval of our RKN e1 and RAP e2 containers, this news from our long-standing partner American Airlines Cargo contributes to a growing Envirotainer network, increasing availability and flexibility for our customers,” said Simon Angeldorff, CEO from Envirotainer. “Envirotainer has had a focused effort for a number of years to grow our network in the Americas, to ensure our best-in-class solutions are available where they are needed.”