With virtually its entire fleet of Boeing 777s jets back in service, Emirates Airline (Stand 1100) has gained pole position among its peers, proving the effectiveness of its agile approach to logistics as the recovery from the pandemic gains momentum.
The Dubai-based airline operated to about 140 freight destinations by the end of September, its top cargo official told AIN. Based on October 14 industry estimates, Emirates had 140 Boeing 777s in service, with four parked, as well as 43 A380s in operation, with 74 parked, and a final superjumbo due for delivery in November.
In mid-October, Emirates operated 10 SkyCargo Boeing 777Fs, 16 Boeing 777-300ER “mini freighters”—passenger aircraft with economy class seats removed—and another 10- to 15 aircraft with seats in place, acting as cargo-only flights. In December, it returned one freighter to the lessor.
“We’ve been using several passenger aircraft as cargo-only, which has compensated—or far more than compensated—for lost freighter capacity,” Nabil Sultan, Emirates divisional senior vice-president of cargo, told AIN in a pre-show interview.
A Time Like No Other
Sultan called the onset of Covid-19 a time like no other. “It was extremely challenging and interesting. Back in March 2020, when the airline had to suspend operations—as did every other airline, especially from a passenger perspective—you quickly realized that many countries’ dependence on moving essential goods and commodities—pharmaceuticals, food items, and perishables—was so paramount, that it was important to ensure we continued to provide badly needed capacity into Dubai and beyond.”
In March 2020, Kuwait became Emirates’ first passenger-as-cargo 777 destination. It also flew A380s on charter to move rubber and PPE from Thailand to the U.S., with passenger seats in place. “We continued to add destinations; it was almost planning and executing at the same time, to ensure at least the capacity was there,”…