Two Middle Eastern Air Powers Align to Improve Cargo Handling

UAE – WORLDWIDE – Abu Dhabi based Etihad Cargo, the freight and logistics arm of the Etihad Aviation Group, has bolstered its global handling partnership agreements with dnata, the airport services provider owned by the Emirates Group (which owns rival Dubai based Emirates Airline).

The new agreements align the two UAE-based companies until 2023, with dnata providing warehouse and cargo handling services to manage the 180,000 tonnes of air cargo carried annually across 15 gateways in Etihad Cargo’s global network.

For the first time, the Etihad Cargo-dnata alliance now extends to North America and South Asia Pacific, with dnata having commenced warehouse operations at Canada’s Toronto Pearson Airport from February 5, to be followed later in the year by Singapore’s Changi Airport on May 1.

The new North America and South Asia Pacific agreements add to existing Etihad Cargo-dnata warehouse and cargo handling operations at Dubai International (DXB) and Dubai World Central (DWC) airports, as well as Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane in Australia, together with Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad in Pakistan, and Zurich, Geneva, Manchester, Milan and Amsterdam in Europe. Stewart Angus, Divisional Senior Vice President, International Airport Operations, dnata, commented:

“We are delighted to expand our long-standing, successful partnership with Etihad Cargo. We continue to invest in our facilities, equipment and team to deliver best-in-class services for this important customer airline.”

In addition to cargo, dnata provides Etihad Airways with passenger ground and ramp handling services at 9 global locations, which have also been extended under the framework agreement. Further contracts have been awarded by Etihad Airways to dnata at Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, Singapore, Zurich, Geneva, Milan, Toronto and New York (below wing).

The programme started under new CEO Tony Douglas who was tasked with saving the airline money.

Douglas’ aggressive policies are said to have reduced Etihad overheads by over $400 million since he joined in January 2018. The expanded partnership with dnata follows a detailed review exercise to assess Etihad Cargo’s global operations and drive service-level excellence and best practices across its network (and doubtless cut some more costs).