Emirates SkyCargo, the airfreight division of Dubai-based Emirates Airline, is mulling further exploration of the China market and the landscapes covered by the Belt and Road Initiative, its executives said.
Being the center of global manufacturing, China is the largest cargo market outside of Dubai for the airline’s cargo division, they said.
“I would say China is our largest cargo market outside of Dubai,” said Jeffrey Robin van Haeften, senior vice-president of cargo commercial worldwide, Emirates SkyCargo.
“Dubai is a small part of the United Arab Emirates. We have 10 million citizens, 9 million expatriates, so it is not a high production market like Germany, China or Mexico. We really have to feed from other areas and that’s coming mainly from China.”
Emirates SkyCargo currently operates 43 cargo flights per week in China, apart from the 63 passenger flights to or from Chinese cities every week, and each can carry between 15 and 20 metric tons of cargo.
“Today, 20 percent of our network production comes from China. We carry about 2,000 tons of cargo per week into and out of China (the Chinese mainland).The China market is the factory of the world. We tend to carry anything which is high-tech, any general cargo manufactured in China that can be transported by air,” said Ravishankar Mirle, vice-president of cargo commercial operations in Far East and Australasia at Emirates SkyCargo.
https://www.chinadaily.com.cn/a/202407/18/WS66986aa6a31095c51c50ea4a.html