Emirates SkyCargo has announced a strategic expansion of its freighter services across East and Southeast Asia. The air cargo carrier is boosting freighter flight frequencies and destinations in response to growing demand to seamlessly connect emerging and established manufacturing hubs across East and Southeast Asia with high-demand markets across the Middle East, Africa, Europe and the Americas.
An important facilitator of international trade, Emirates SkyCargo moved over 439,000 tonnes of cargo on its freighter and passenger flights from 12 markets in East and Southeast Asia in FY 25/26. This was an increase of around 5% from the cargo tonnage transported in FY24/25, representing the growing demand from businesses and exporters in the region to rapidly and securely transport goods to other parts of the world.
Badr Abbas, Divisional Senior Vice President, Emirates SkyCargo, said: “East and Southeast Asia are key manufacturing zones for the global economy, making major contributions in the production of high-tech goods, the export of perishables, as well as being an important origin for global e-commerce flows. By deploying additional freighter flights and by expanding our freighter footprint in response to customer demand, we are providing the rapid connectivity that ensures that exporters can get their cargo quickly and safely to their end customers across the world. Emirates SkyCargo offers unmatched choice and flexibility, not just through our freighter flights to 12 cities in this region but also through our passenger flights offering wide-body bellyhold capacity from 25 destinations to Dubai and beyond. Every week, customers in the East and Southeast Asian region have access to over 12,000 tonnes of cargo capacity to move their goods to destinations on Emirates’ global network.”
Scaling up freighter flights
Emirates SkyCargo is doubling freighter capacity to Narita Airport, Tokyo, increasing operations from one to two weekly freighter flights. The second weekly freighter serves Japan’s strong manufacturing industry across diverse sectors such as automotive, electronics and pharmaceuticals.
The air cargo carrier is increasing its flights to Hong Kong with 37 weekly freighter flights to accommodate maximum flexibility and choice for customers in this export-led economic corridor. Emirates SkyCargo has also expanded its freighter footprint into Central China with three weekly flights from Zhengzhou, connecting the industrial hub of Henan province to Dubai and beyond.
Emirates SkyCargo has restarted freighter flights from Singapore with a once-weekly flight connecting to Dubai via Mumbai, forming a critical trade lane across Asia.
The air cargo carrier will also be doubling its footprint in Taiwan, boosting its service from one weekly to twice weekly freighters to Taipei in response to demand for the movement of high-tech electronic cargo.
Emirates SkyCargo continues to experience robust demand for the once-weekly freighter service to Bangkok, supporting exports of sophisticated tech products, perishables, fashion and other consumer products.
The carrier also maintains its four weekly freighter services to Hanoi, supporting exporters in Vietnam with rapid connectivity to Dubai and the Middle East, a large market for Vietnamese exports for perishables as well as to other global markets.
Extensive bellyhold wide-body capacity
In tandem with its dedicated freighter service, Emirates SkyCargo also harnesses the cargo capacity of its wide-body passenger flights to offer industries in East and Southeast Asia seamless, high-frequency and high-capacity cargo solutions. Currently, the air cargo carrier provides capacity on over 320 passenger flights every week across the region.
Product portfolio
Emirates SkyCargo offers a specialist product portfolio to safely transport goods that require specialised handling including:
- Emirates Vulnerable offering secured and monitored air transport lanes for state-of-the-art electronics, including global new product launches
- Emirates Fresh for the transportation of perishables and fresh produce
- Emirates Pharma for life-saving medicines and Emirates Vital for transportation of clinical trials and bio-innovation materials.
