to find the right solution to ensure that we again position correctly. I think gone are the days of transporting cargo, it is now about being specialised in specific verticals and work with manufactures and retailers to actually to work with them as partners and understand their business model and be able to innovate and create the right products for them. I think we are capable of doing that. Dubai is perfectly positioned for that. We have that opportunity now. We are building a whole new airport in Dubai South. It just gives us another opportunity to create the right infrastructure to be able to address the logistics requirement. So the key is to remain focussed. We have to remain focussed on our customers.
Is the air cargo industry innovating enough to maximise its potential and live up to its value proposition of speed and reliability? We are never innovating enough. I think the world has such a huge diversity. And things keep changing and evolving. Therefore, there is never enough. The questions are what are the priorities and what are the areas that are really emerging that would actually make a huge difference to us as a business and try to address those. Pharma is a good example. This is one industry that continues to grow double digit year on year. 23 percent growth!. I cannot think of any vertical that grows with that kind of speed year on year. Therefore, it is a no brainer for us to sort of align ourselves with such a fast growing industry and be able to provide the solution. The next is e-commerce, where we see tremendous action. I think the business model will change dramatically. Therefore, how do we create the logistics for this? How do we align ourselves? Things that will actually have the biggest impact on the economy, the profitability of the airline, on what we do as a whole business. That will continue. We have our own innovation lab. Things like white containers that we created. No other airlines use it. The idea behind it is to provide a cheaper solution for the pharmaceutical company and provide something that keeps the integrity of their product. It is things like
I think we are perfectly positioned from the product offering point of view to ensure that we can deliver as promised. Today our flown cargo as booked sits at 98 to 99 percent. No airline in the world is able to achieve that.
these that we continue to do to remain competitive in the market.
Did Amazon launching freighter operations surprise you? Absolutely not. It is interesting and I wish them all the best. They have recognised that the business model is changing. The fact is that the world is so big. Launching an airline for Amazon to look after their domestic or international lanes where they have the majority of their volume moving – this is probably something great. It is a good idea. But the world is so huge and it is diverse. You try to deliver products into places in Africa. It is just not easy. It requires specialised airlines to understand the logistics of operating into some of these countries. We have a track record of over 30 years in operation with the vast network we created. It hasn’ t happened over night. It is not about operating one flight here and one flight there. It is about creating a massive network with massive frequency. It is completely a different proposition. I think people like Amazon and the other e-commerce companies are probably perfect partners for us to work with. They probably look after a few lanes, but we can by and large serve a much larger network and a much larger consumer base. And that is where we come in.
You have joined CargoiQ, an IATA initiative, what are some of your thoughts on creating standardization for the industry, setting industry benchmarks? And how does Emirates SkyCargo intend to champion this cause? For us we have moved a long way in ensuring that the days of delivering as booked are gone. For us we now look at delivering as promised. How do we do that with such complex network and multiple frequencies? What are the measures that we need to put in place? Today we have the confidence in ensuring that we are capable of delivering as promised. The reason is we have multiple frequencies. If you miss your shipment on the first slot, there is always a second flight. We have various options to get your commodity to final destination in the most efficient way, which probably others don’ t have. It is this that gives us the confidence in joining CargoiQ. It is nothing like setting world standard of KPIs that becomes the standard of measuring the quality of any freight forwarding transportation company. That is how the customer should judge what you deliver by the end of the day. To me that is a perfect way of ensuring everyone is reading from the same book. It is not that airlines are positioning rates out there without really understanding what goes behind that rate. I think we are perfectly
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