Emirates SkyCargo reconnects six continents with scheduled cargo flights

Emirates SkyCargo has announced that with effect from 1 May 2020, it will be operating dedicated cargo flights on a scheduled basis to 61 global destinations across six continents. With the addition of a weekly cargo flight to Sao Paulo, Emirates SkyCargo has effectively introduced regular cargo connections to South America as part of its services. Out of the 61 destinations, Emirates’ Boeing 777-300ER passenger aircraft will operate cargo flights to 51 destinations and 23 cities will be served by the Emirates SkyCargo Boeing 777-F aircraft.

Emirates SkyCargo has operated over 2,500 dedicated cargo flights in the month of April. Acting as a global conveyor belt for the transport of essential supplies including protective equipment, medical devices, pharmaceuticals and food, the air cargo carrier flew more than 1650 flights on its Boeing 777-300ER passenger freighters and over 850 flights on its Boeing 777 freighters to over 80 destinations on scheduled and special charter services. Since January 2020, the air cargo carrier has transported more than 375,000 tonnes of cargo on its flights.

“Over the last six to eight weeks, we have had to work innovatively and around the clock to move essential cargo to destinations where they were most needed. We started with just about a dozen cities served by our Boeing 777-300ER passenger freighters at the end of March but within the space of a month we have scaled our operations to a point where we now have more than 60 destinations as part of our network and about 85 daily cargo flights.

“Our cargo operations continue to grow, as we see strong demand and every day we work to connect more points with our flights. Our operations support not just the immediate relief efforts, but in a distributed global economy, they also help keep businesses and trade running. And as Emirates, we would also be happy to support any immediate repatriation efforts and transport passengers on our cargo flights if we receive approvals from national authorities,” said Nabil Sultan, Emirates Divisional Senior Vice President, Cargo.

Emirates SkyCargo witnessed an increasing demand for operating charter flights during the month of April. The carrier operated more than 170 charter flights over the space of just four weeks. A majority of charter flights were operated to transport relief materials. In total, the carrier transported an estimated 10,000 tonnes of personal protective equipment, medical equipment, devices and pharmaceuticals in the month of April on its scheduled and charter flights. Emirates SkyCargo is drawing on its expertise as a global leader for the transportation of temperature- sensitive pharmaceuticals to ensure that medicinal products are transported in a rapid, secure and efficient manner.

In addition to medical supplies, Emirates SkyCargo is also facilitating the transport of other items including perishables and fresh produce. Between January and April 2020, Emirates SkyCargo flew more than 85,000 tonnes of food around the world, continuing to support local agriculture and produce exports while ensuring that consumers can still access fruits, vegetables and other fresh produce in local stores.

Loading of cargo in the cabin of passenger aircraft

In a bid to further optimise cargo operations and capacity, Emirates SkyCargo has also started rolling out loading of cargo in the overhead bins and seats of its Boeing 777-300ER passenger aircraft. This move has been made in response to growing customer demand out of key markets.

“Safety of our people and operations is the first priority for us. We took a measured approach to the loading of cargo inside the cabins and have rolled out a detailed set of procedures including the kind of cargo that can be loaded inside the cabin. We operated flights from Tokyo and New Delhi last week with cargo in the overhead bins and we will be looking at operating more flights over the coming week with cargo in both the belly as well as inside the main cabin,” commented Nabil Sultan.

Emirates SkyCargo has carried out a complete evaluation of potential risks, developed a robust set of guidelines and also developed a smart calculator application to help cargo teams around the world to calculate optimal loading capacity on the overhead bins and on the seats of Emirates’ Boeing 777-300ER aircraft. The additional capacity made available on its passenger aircraft will help to satisfy demand from global customers and optimise flight operations.