How did Emirates airline become the world’s vaccine transporter?

John Benny | Staff Reporter

When Emirates airline had to ground its entire passenger fleet last year in response to the initial COVID-19 outbreak, its top executives realised that they could not allow the disruption to affect their cargo operations, come what may.

One of them was Nabil Sultan, Divisional Senior Vice-President at Emirates SkyCargo, the air freight division of Emirates.

“Back in March last year when the airline had suspended its operations – it was sudden,” said Sultan.

“For us, it was essential seeing the cargo demand continue to flow. There were a lot of essential commodities that needed to get to a lot of destinations, be it food, medical equipment or PPE [Personal Protective Equipment].”

“It was very quickly visible to us that we had to come up with a plan to maintain our capacity, to ensure the flow of cargo across the globe,” he said.

From passenger to cargo flights

As global trade lines got disrupted, it was Emirates and a few other global airlines that transported essential goods. Although capacity was limited at first, the carrier came up with a way to deal with the problem.

“As the airline was winding down gradually suspending more and more routes, we were sort of putting together an entire plan in terms of what is it that we need to do to start operating some of our passenger flights as cargo,” said Sultan.

“On March 16, we started our first passenger aircraft used as cargo-only flight to Kuwait…and before you know it, we were operating almost 90 such passenger aircraft across almost 100-120 destinations,” said Sultan.

Moving vaccines across the globe

Any conversation about Emirates in current times is not complete without mentioning the role the carrier is playing in transporting COVID-19 vaccines across the globe.

“Dubai has invested heavily into infrastructure, ensuring that we have GDP (good distribution practices)-compliant facility … we had purpose-built facilities that already existed in Dubai, both at Al Maktoum airport and Dubai International,” said Sultan.

Last year, Emirates SkyCargo set up a dedicated airside hub in Dubai for the distribution of COVID-19 vaccines. In January, the airline joined hands with DP World, International Humanitarian City and Dubai Airports to form the 'Dubai Vaccine Logistics Alliance' to harness the strategic strengths of Dubai as a major distribution hub.

This could be why Emirates was able to become the first airline cargo operator to ship 150 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines. In April 2021, it was reported that one out of every 20 COVID-19 vaccine doses administered around the world had transited through Dubai and had flown on an Emirates aircraft.

In a July report, Emirates SkyCargo highlighted the following achievements:

• More than 600 tonnes of COVID-19 vaccines were transported on Emirates aircraft, the equivalent of 150 million doses
• COVID-19 vaccines were flown to more than 80 destinations across six continents
• More than 3,500 packages of COVID-19 vaccines transported
• Six different COVID-19 vaccines transported

Emirates SkyCargo has been leading the international air cargo industry in the transportation of COVID-19 vaccines and other essential pharmaceuticals, PPE and food supplies during the pandemic.

Playing a pivotal role in Dubai’s efforts to become the world’s vaccine hub wasn’t all that easy.

“A lot of the vaccines had to be moved in subzero temperatures, especially the Pfizer one, which had to be moved at minus 70 degrees,” said Sultan.

“With that sort of complexity, it was essential for us to understand, what it would take to move an essential commodity like the vaccine safely,” he said.

India initiative

Emirates SkyCargo flew 100 tonnes of relief materials free of charge from Dubai to India during three weeks in May 2021 to support the Indian community to battle the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Under the Emirates India Humanitarian Airbridge, Emirates donated cargo capacity to transport essential supplies such as relief tents and thousands of oxygen cylinders and concentrators free of charge on flights to Indian destinations.

“We are heartened that India is overcoming the virus and we are honoured to have supported the efforts of partners by donating much-needed air cargo capacity for moving essential goods quickly and reliably into nine Indian cities,” said Nabil Sultan.