KARACHI – Amid these unprecedented times in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, Emirates SkyCargo continues to underline its commitment to Pakistan by breaking not just one but two records last week to transport essential supplies.
The cargo airline completed an industry record uplift of 62 tonnes in a Boeing 777-300 operating from Karachi to Dubai, surpassing its own previous record of 56 tonnes achieved earlier in the week.
Exports from Pakistan included perishables like meat, fish, and vegetables while imports were mainly pharmaceuticals, testing machines, other medical accessories, industrial machinery, drilling equipment, and general courier.
Given the current challenges with global air cargo capacity due to restrictions on passenger flights, Emirates SkyCargo continues to ensure that commodities such as food and medical supplies are transported to and from Pakistan with four weekly cargo flights each from Karachi and Lahore. The much-needed capacity will help connect and reach essential commodities to places that need them most, keep global supply chains open, and support communities and businesses in Pakistan and worldwide.
In recent weeks, Emirates SkyCargo has transported close to 100 tonnes of relief material, including hospital equipment to Milan, and over 55 tonnes of highly temperature-sensitive pharma to New York. In March and April, the cargo airline will operate nine charter freighters to Budapest to transport face masks and equipment. Emirates SkyCargo is also playing a vital role in transporting food across the Middle East, and its special flights from the subcontinent and Africa are bringing in tonnes of perishables to Dubai and onwards to other destinations within the Middle East.
Nabil Sultan, Emirates’ Divisional Senior Vice President, Cargo said: “In these trying times, we more than ever stand by our commitment for Emirates SkyCargo to act as a conveyor belt for the transport of much-needed commodities such as food and medicines and also for flying in equipment, machinery and other components which are vital for business continuity across essential industries in Pakistan. As an extremely agile and customer-focused business, we have been able to establish a new network and schedule for our cargo operations within a very short period of time, utilizing lower deck capacity on our wide-body Boeing 777 passenger aircraft which supplement the cargo capacity we offer on our freighter aircraft.
“Additionally, in order to consolidate operations and reduce costs, we have also temporarily shifted all our cargo handling operations to Dubai International Airport (DXB). Taken together, we are making sure that we react more quickly to requests coming in from every part of the globe from our customers.”
Emirates SkyCargo’s new flight schedule for its global cargo operations also includes cargo flights operated on its Boeing 777 passenger aircraft. These flights will offer around 40 tonnes of lower deck cargo capacity per flight and will supplement the cargo capacity being offered on Emirates’ fleet of freighters. These cargo-only flights are scheduled to operate to over 30 destinations across the Middle East, Africa, Asia, Europe and Australia with a majority of destinations being served with multiple weekly and daily flights.
From 1 April 2020, Emirates SkyCargo will consolidate all its cargo handling operations at Dubai International airport, temporarily suspending operations at Emirates SkyCentral DWC, the terminal handling its freighters. The move will help streamline cargo operations between its freighters and the new dedicated cargo flights on Emirates’ passenger aircraft.
