Emirates SkyCargo on Wednesday suspended operations at Al Maktoum International Airport at Dubai World Central and consolidated all its cargo handling operations at Dubai International Airport in an effort to “streamline” operations between its freighter flights and new dedicated cargo flights using Emirates Airline's passenger fleet.
A new flight schedule for Emirates’ global cargo operations now includes cargo flights operated with its Boeing 777 passenger aircraft. Those flights will supplement dedicated freighters with about 40 tonnes of lower deck cargo capacity per flight.
Emirates has scheduled the cargo-only flights to operate to over 30 destinations—most served with multiple weekly and daily flights—across the Middle East, Africa, Asia, Europe, and Australia. The airline planned the schedules and destinations for the dedicated cargo flights on passenger aircraft to ensure “optimal interconnectivity” with Emirates’ scheduled freighter operations.
“In these trying times, we more than ever stand by our commitment for Emirates SkyCargo to act as a global 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,” said Nabil Sultan, Emirates divisional senior vice president for cargo. “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.
“Additionally, in order to consolidate operations and reduce costs in this new scenario, we have also temporarily shifted all our cargo-handling operations to Dubai International Airport. Taken together we are making sure that we react more quickly to requests coming in from every part of the globe from our customers.”
On Monday an Emirates SkyCargo flight carrying close to 500,000 Covid-19 testing kits landed in São Paulo, completing the first of two such flights to Brazil to carry medical supplies from Guangzhou, China, via Dubai. Emirates also flew two special charters carrying almost 200 tonnes of medical supplies such as hand sanitizer and protective face masks from Hong Kong to Sydney while another flight transported pharmaceutical supplies to Karachi.
As part of a special charter operation, an Emirates Boeing 777 freighter transported close to 100 tonnes of relief material including hospital equipment to Milan and more than 55 tonnes of temperature-sensitive pharmaceuticals to New York from Mumbai. Between March and April, the cargo carrier plans to operate nine freighter flights to Budapest as part of a charter to transport supplies such as face masks and equipment to Hungary.
Emirates’ passenger flights virtually ceased on Wednesday, March 25, as international travel came to a near halt amid border closings and evaporation of demand due to the Covid-19 crisis.
On Tuesday Dubai’s deputy ruler, Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid Al Maktoum, said the emirate would fully support the airline and committed to an injection of fresh capital.
The airline has announced a series of cost-cutting measures including salary cuts of between 25 and 50 percent across the company, while the presidents of Emirates Airline and Emirates Group logistics giant Dnata—Tim Clark and Gary Chapman—forego salaries for three months. It will exempt what it calls junior employees from the pay cuts. The company is also encouraging employees to take paid or unpaid leave.