Emirates SkyCargo has announced it operated more than 10,000 cargo flights worldwide from April to June, facilitating the cargo movement of essential commodities and other supplies for individuals and businesses.

The flights within the three-month period were a mix of scheduled, ad-hoc and charter operations.

"As a customer-focused organisation, Emirates SkyCargo has innovatively adapted our cargo operations and offerings over the last few months in line with rapidly evolving market demand. Starting with deploying our passenger aircraft as freighters to more recently modifying 10 of our aircraft by removing Economy Class to allow for additional cargo capacity, we have been extremely flexible and agile in responding to our customers," said Nabil Sultan, Emirates Divisional senior vice president, cargo.

Cargo-only flights in pax planes

The air cargo carrier announced that it had also operated 500 flights with cargo loaded in the overhead bins, on the passenger seats or on the floor of the passenger cabin of its Boeing 777-300ER aircraft.

These flights were operated in the months of May and June 2020 to over 50 global destinations transporting a wide variety of commodities.

"During the months of May and June, Emirates SkyCargo operated on an average more than 3,800 flights per month, with the aircraft travelling to over 100 destinations and covering approximately 37 million kilometres, which is the equivalent distance of roughly 50 trips to the moon and back," the freighter said in a statement.

Starting from just over 35 destinations at the end of March 2020, Emirates SkyCargo has expanded its network to over 100 scheduled cargo destinations across the world for the month of July 2020.

From transporting urgently needed medical supplies and food to materials required for manufacturing and other industries from origin to destination, it noted that Emirates SkyCargo is helping reconnect cities to international trade lanes as manufacturing and other economic activities recommence.