Emirates SkyCargo

Emirates SkyCargo began on 25 October 1985, the same year Emirates itself started flying, which makes it unusual among airline freight divisions: it was not bolted onto a mature passenger carrier but grew in parallel with one from the first year of operations. That simultaneity shaped the business. Where most cargo divisions had to negotiate for space on a network designed by someone else, Emirates SkyCargo's capacity assumptions were built into the airline's fleet planning from the outset, which is part of why a carrier with a comparatively small freighter fleet has been able to compete with dedicated all-cargo operators. The division is a business unit of Emirates rather than a separate legal entity, and it should not be confused with Emirates Shipping Line, an unrelated ocean container carrier that happens to share a name and a home city.

The operation splits across two Dubai airports, with freighters working from Al Maktoum International at Dubai World Central and belly cargo moving through Dubai International alongside the passenger operation. Freighter services reach 42 destinations across six continents, a deliberately narrower map than the belly network, which extends everywhere Emirates flies passengers. Eight new freighter destinations were added during 2025 alone: Copenhagen, Narita, Bangkok, Mumbai, Beirut, Conakry, Phnom Penh and Hanoi, with additional weekly frequencies to Guangzhou, Shanghai and Johannesburg. Beyond its own metal, the carrier relies on an interline network of more than 180 partners, including Air Canada, United and Virgin Atlantic, and added agreements with Astral Aviation for Africa in February 2025 and Teleport for Southeast Asia in April 2025. This is the air cargo equivalent of buying space on someone else's network, and it lets the division quote to destinations no Emirates aircraft serves.

The fleet is in the middle of the sharpest expansion in the division's history. Entering 2026 it operated 11 Boeing 777Fs plus five wet-leased Boeing 747 freighters, and the stated plan is to reach at least 21 freighters by the end of 2026, adding up to ten 777s across the year. That growth comes from two streams: outstanding orders for production 777 freighters, and ten passenger-to-freighter conversions contracted with Israel Aerospace Industries. In 2026 Emirates became the first cargo carrier anywhere to put the converted Boeing 777-300ERSF into service, an aircraft offering 100 tonnes of payload and 811 cubic metres of volume, about 25 percent more cargo volume than the production 777F. The conversion route matters commercially because it turns retiring passenger aircraft into freighters at lower cost and shorter lead time than waiting in the Boeing production queue. Alongside the fleet work, the division has pushed specialised verticals rather than generic tonnage: its pharmaceutical product grew 54 percent by volume to around 2,000 tonnes weekly, perishables added 25,700 tonnes for 10 percent growth over 2024, aircraft engine movements doubled year on year, and secure high-value volume rose 30 percent. By December 2025 nearly 80 percent of shipments were booked digitally. Maalbardaar tracks and clears Emirates SkyCargo air waybills for Pakistani shippers through the same platform used for its ocean carriers.