Cargo capacity snapped up as Emirates goes double daily

DOUBLE THE number of flights and you have double the capacity. But it keeps your staff working full out, especially when demands is high. That's the message from Emirates South African cargo manager Kum Naicker following the airline's decision to offer a double daily service between Dubai and Johannesburg from the beginning of this month. Flights are now scheduled to depart daily from Johannesburg International Airport at 14h15 and 19h15, arriving at Dubai at 03h40 and 09h55 respectively. Flights arrive from Dubai at 10h00 and 16h15. This allows a cargo uplift of 32 tons daily on the combined service. Naicker is satisfied that capacity is filled to around 70% on average, with seasonal perishable demands from the Middle East mainly involving fresh meat, fruit and flowers. "Our loads have shifted dramatically in recent years," he says. "General cargo is taking up more and more of the space, and this is often preferable as it means 12 months-a-year business as against seasonal traffic." An additional bonus has been the start up of Emirates' own dedicated cargo handling service at Dubai, which not only speeds up local loading and deliveries, but also transhipments. With new services from Dubai to Shanghai, Osaka and Perth now on the Emirates schedule, this enables quick handling of cargo to and from those points for import to or export from South Africa. "One thing we have become more and more aware of," says Naicker, "is that being an own sales point instead of being a GSA is most demanding on our staff. The clients expect only the best, but happily we can serve this up all the time."