Emirates SkyCargo volumes up 16% in first half

Emirates SkyCargo has reported a rapid increase in volumes in the first half of the year thanks to general market improvements and additional freighters.

The freighter operator reported a 16% year-on-year increase in cargo volumes to 1.2m tonnes over its fiscal first half year running to September 30.

The carrier said it benefited from the addition of one new Boeing 777 freighter and two additional wet-leased Boeing 747Fs.

Elsewhere, the carrier said there were notable volume contributions from strong Chinese e-commerce traffic and a rise in shipments bound for Dubai.

“Strong customer demand for Emirates SkyCargo’s specialised products and excellent network of freighter and bellyhold cargo operations saw cargo yields increase by 11%,” the carrier said.

Meanwhile, sister company and ground handler, dnata, saw its cargo volumes increase by 18% to 1.5m tonnes.

At the start of the year, the handler saw its volumes increase rapidly – to the point it introduced a short embargo at its Dubai facilities – due to a rise in sea-air traffic caused by the Red Sea crisis.

The handler said the demand increase was due to “the buoyant demand for air cargo services globally”.

The overall Emirates airline registered a record half-year pre-tax profit of $2.6bn, up 2% on a year ago.

It hiked overall capacity for the period by 5%, including a 4% rise in passenger seat capacity, and achieved an average passenger load factor of 80%.

Emirates’ network expansion included restarting daily services to the Cambodian capital Phnom Penh, via Singapore, and commencing daily flights to Bogota, in Colombia, via Miami.

It has also opened a new route to Madagascar via the Seychelles, giving it a total of 148 destination airports.

Over the half-year the company re-introduced three Airbus A380s and five Boeing 777-300ERs after refurbishing their cabin interiors as part of a $4 billion scheme.

It has deployed the initial 777s on services to Geneva, Tokyo Haneda and Brussels and, as additional 777s undergo the retrofit, Emirates will deploy them on 10 more routes – Riyadh, Zurich, Kuwait, Dammam, Chicago, Boston, Dallas-Fort Worth, Seattle, Newark-Athens and Miami-Bogota.

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