SkyCargo income soars

EMIRATES SkyCargo has posted record revenues in its 2010/11 financial year results. 
Revenue reached AED8.8bn (US$2.4bn), up 27.6 per cent, mirroring the resurgence in global cargo traffic.
Cargo tonnage increased by 11.8 per cent over the previous year to 1.77m metric tonnes. Additionally, freight yield per freight tonne kilometre increased by 11.3 per cent. 
Cargo revenue contributed 17.4 per cent to the airline’s total transport revenue – one of the highest contributions of any airline in the world with a similar fleet. 
During the year, SkyCargo introduced four freighter-only destinations, Almaty (Kazakhstan), Bagram (Afghanistan), Campinas (Brazil) and Erbil (Iraq). 
At the end of the financial year, the freighter fleet consisted of seven aircraft – three on wet lease and four on operating lease.
Overall the Emirates Group has marked its 23rd consecutive year of profit with a record performance of AED5.9bn ($1.6bn) net profit.
A sharp increase of 41.2 per cent in the cost of fuel during 2010/11 at AED16.8bn ($4.6bn), accounted for 34.4 per cent of the airline’s total operating costs, close to the record highs witnessed in 2008/09. 
This increase is a direct result of the 26.5 per cent hike in average fuel costs per US gallon, as well as higher overall consumption due to increased capacity.