This followed months of planning and testing. The early morning arrival of an Emirates SkyCargo Boeing 777 freighter from London's Heathrow, carrying a full load of more than 100 tonnes of cargo, marked the official start of operations. Emirates SkyCargo, which carried 2.1m tonnes of cargo across its network in 2012-13 financial year, said that this initial load included vehicles, shipping spares, pharmaceuticals, oilfield equipment and an aircraft engine.
Construction of phase one of the cargo terminal and supporting facilities began in July last year, and with its completion, operations are now in full swing, with 250 staff on site.
The new cargo terminal is equipped with state-of-the-art technology and will be able to handle 700,000 tonnes of cargo annually. It will boast some 500 staff when phase two, scheduled to be completed by September this year, comes into operation. Longer term, the terminal has the potential for further expansion to reach one million tonnes.
News
New freight terminal provides the impetus
Emirates SkyCargo, the cargo arm of the Middle Eastern airline, saw its cargo fleet officially start operations from its new freight terminal at Dubai World Central's Al Maktoum International airport in May.
