Emirates SkyCargo flies 33k tonnes of perishables to UAE from Kenya and other markets

April 09, 2020: Emirates SkyCargo has imported more than 33,000 tonnes of perishable items and more than 1,700 tonnes of pharmaceuticals into the UAE from January 2020 to date. Food items are brought in from several markets including Australia, India, Kenya, and Pakistan. 

At Karachi, the cargo carrier was even able to break a global record for maximum cargo loaded in the lower deck of a B777-300ER passenger aircraft. The team helped transport just less than 62 tonnes of cargo, primarily food items including vegetables, fish and meat, on single flights bound to Dubai.

Some of Emirates SkyCargo’s stations including Hong Kong and Amsterdam have had to manage increased freighter operations with Hong Kong managing more than 30 and Amsterdam managing more than 16 freighter flights a week.

Nabil Sultan, Emirates divisional senior vice president cargo said, “We have particularly ramped up operations for transporting cargo in the belly-hold of our passenger aircraft in the last two weeks. Emirates SkyCargo has been expanding its network on a daily basis and some of the latest destinations for our cargo flights on passenger aircraft include Bangkok, Casablanca, Johannesburg, Singapore, and Taipei.”

For the week ending April 4, 2020, Emirates SkyCargo had operated more than 160 flights on its freighter aircraft and close to 90 flights on its passenger aircraft. Currently, Emirates SkyCargo operates flights to 51 destinations globally, out of which 19 cities are served by its B777Fs offering up to 100 tonnes of capacity per flight and 38 destinations are served by dedicated cargo flights on Emirates’ B777 passenger aircraft offering up to 50 tonnes belly capacity. 

In order to streamline operations and cut costs under rapidly changing global conditions, Emirates SkyCargo has also transferred all its cargo handling operations in Dubai to Dubai International Airport. 

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Some of the notable charters operated by Emirates SkyCargo between April 7 and 9, included:

• 100 tonnes of masks and other protective supplies transported from Guangzhou to Dubai. 
• Close to 100 tonnes of medical supplies including masks and other protective equipment from Shanghai to Mumbai on B777F.
• 100 tonnes of protective equipment transported from Shanghai to Dubai on a B777F. The supplies will then be flown to Bucharest on April 10 and 11 on four separate flights on the B777 passenger aircraft.
• Over seven tonnes of medical supplies transported to Los Angeles in the belly hold of an Emirates’ B777 passenger aircraft. This was also the first dedicated cargo flight on a passenger aircraft operated by Emirates SkyCargo to North America.
• Close to 1 million Covid-19 testing kits transported to Sao Paulo. An earlier shipment containing 500,000 kits was transported on March 30. 

Globally, the air cargo carrier has transported more than 93,000 tonnes of perishables and more than 20,000 tonnes of pharmaceuticals. The carrier has also transported more than 3,000 tonnes of medical supplies for combating Covid-19 across the world.