Emirates Skycargo expands services in Africa and Russia

An agreement signed with Astral Aviation Ltd., a cargo operator based in Nairobi, provides Emirates SkyCargo with significant reach within Africa. It will enable the award-winning cargo carrier to transport odd-sized machinery and shipments, for example drilling and mining equipments from Australia to Mwanza.

With this agreement, Emirates SkyCargo can support not only its fast-expanding services to the 13 destinations within Africa, but also effectively reach out to customers based in offline points such as Mwanza and Zanzibar in Tanzania, Bujumbura in Burundi, and Rumbek as well as Juba in Sudan.

Currently, these offline routes are served by narrow-bodied aircraft but the agreement with Astral Aviation Ltd., which operates Antonov AN12s, supplements the cargo division's capacity and reach.

Emirates SkyCargo has also signed an agreement with AirBridge Cargo, part of the Volga Dnepr Group. Operating Boeing 747-200Fs, AirBridge Cargo based in Moscow offers an extensive domestic network in Russia. With this agreement, Emirates SkyCargo can effectively serve the huge demand for pharmaceutical products from the Indian subcontinent and carry large odd-sized shipments such as machinery and equipment to offline points in Russia. In turn, AirBridge Cargo can take advantage of Emirates SkyCargo's strong network spanning cities in the Middle East, the Indian subcontinent and Africa.

Both these agreements were signed at the World Air Cargo Event 2006, where Emirates SkyCargo had an impressive stand offering excellent facilities for networking; Emirates' cabin crew members attended to visitors; and senior executives addressed the conference. Ram Menen, Emirates' Divisional Senior Vice President Cargo, chaired the session on 'Are we moving into a Paperless Era?' while Peter Sedgley, Emirates' Vice President Cargo Commercial Operations addressed the session 'Airfreight forwarders - Can you be successful outside the top ten?'

Emirates SkyCargo serves Russia with belly-hold cargo capacity on the daily passenger flights to Moscow and 13 cities in Africa - Abidjan, Alexandria, Cairo, Casablanca, Dar-es-Salaam, Entebbe; Johannesburg, Khartoum, Lilongwe, Nairobi, Tripoli, Lagos, and Accra.

The cargo division serves Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania everyday with the Airbus A340-300 passenger flights offering 13 tonnes of belly-hold capacity and a weekly A310-300F freighter service that provide 39 tonnes of capacity. Emirates SkyCargo serves Khartoum, Sudan with six flights a week in the A330-200 passenger jets, which offer 17 tonnes of belly-hold capacity, and A310-300F freighter services twice a week. Other freighter destinations in Africa include Johannesburg, Nairobi, Entebbe and Lilongwe.