Emirates SkyCargo transports 225k tonnes of cargo between January and March
Emirates SkyCargo transported more than 225,000 tonnes of cargo in total out of which 55,000 tonnes were food items including fruits, vegetables, meat and seafood, and more than 13,000 tonnes were of pharmaceutical.
March 26, 2020: Between mid-January and mid-March 2020, Emirates SkyCargo transported more than 225,000 tonnes of cargo in total out of which 55,000 tonnes were food items including fruits, vegetables, meat and seafood, and more than 13,000 tonnes were of pharmaceutical. In line with the mandate from the UAE government, the air cargo carrier is deploying sufficient air cargo capacity to ensure constant supply and replenishment of food products and medicines in the UAE.
Effective March 25, Emirates has temporarily suspended most of its passenger operations and continued its SkyCargo services by deploying its fleet of B777Fs for the transport of essential goods including medical supplies across the world. Since the Covid-19 outbreak, Emirates and dnata have been adapting operations in line with regulatory directives as well as travel demand.
Emirates SkyCargo has deployed a range of measures, including additional freighter flights, and using connecting road feeder services to help transport essential cargo such as pharmaceuticals, medical supplies and equipment, perishables, and other raw materials to the UAE and other global destinations.
Nabil Sultan, divisional senior vice president, Emirates SkyCargo said, “By operating our freighter fleet at full capacity across six continents with a combination of scheduled and ad hoc operations, we are making sure that we can maintain the flow of goods such as medical and pharmaceutical supplies, equipment and food items not just to Dubai and the UAE but to other global destinations where they are most needed across the world.”
Sultan added, “We’re also looking at more new and innovative ways to best serve our customers and the global markets and will continue to communicate with our customers on a daily basis to ensure our services are optimized to best support their needs in these challenging times.”
Emirates’ fleet of 11 freighter aircraft flew a number of ad hoc and charter flights in addition to scheduled operations to match the increased demand for air transportation of cargo. During the eight week period between mid-January and mid-March, Emirates’ freighter aircraft transported more than 50,000 tonnes of cargo including medical and food supplies. During one charter operation, Emirates SkyCargo transported close to half a million units of hand sanitisers in a single B777 freighter aircraft.
During the last two weeks, the air cargo carrier has operated more than 30 weekly freighter flights from Hong Kong, with the station sometimes handling between six to eight freighters in a single day. In addition, Emirates SkyCargo also operated 12 freighters from Shanghai, five freighters from Guangzhou and one freighter from Beijing during the same week. In addition to scheduled freighter services to over 40 global destinations, ad-hoc freighter services were also operated to other destinations including Seoul, Taipei, Frankfurt, Milan, and Casablanca in the month of March.