Dubai International wins top cargo awards
Dubai Airports continued to amass industry accolades after being named the Air Cargo Hub of the Year at the Supply Chain and Transport Awards (SCATA) in Dubai, and the Best Airport – Middle East, at the Asian Freight and Supply Chain Awards in Shanghai. It is the fourth consecutive year that Dubai Airports has won the SCATA award and a record sixteenth consecutive win at the AFSC Awards.
The Awards events are organised by two prominent industry publications – SCATA by ITP, the publishers of the Air Cargo Middle East India, and AFSC awards by Cargonews Asia. Readers of the publications either vote for or nominate the winners for a various categories covering airports, airlines, cargo operators, and freight hubs among many others. In case of SCATA the winners are chosen from among the most voted, by a panel of judges comprising international industry experts.
The criteria for selection includes infrastructure, an industry-friendly fee regime, investment in new infrastructure, and support of cargo-related services such as logistics and freight forwarding facilities. Other criteria include business incentives, technical innovations and contribution to the region’s reputation as a centre of excellence, corporate social responsibility, and consistent delivery of world-class service.
Anita Mehra, VP, Marketing and Corporate Communications – Dubai Airports attributed Dubai International’s success to the cooperation between Dubai Airports and all stakeholders, most prominently Emirates Skycargo – the cargo arm of the airport’s single largest customer, and Dnata. “Emirates’ expansion in terms of fleet size and destination network has a direct impact on the growth of Dubai Airports, and it has played a crucial role in helping us buck the trend and grow in 2009 while airports the world over experienced double-digit falls in freight volumes,” she said.
Mehra said that Dubai has a glorious past and a bright future. “Even as we celebrate this achievement, we are preparing for the opening of phase 1 of Dubai World Central – Al Maktoum International (DWC), for cargo operations on June 27, following the historic landing of the test flight at the new facility on June 20. DWC will eventually become the world’s largest airport with a capacity of 160 million passengers and 12 million tonnes of cargo per year.”
A cargo forecast released by Dubai Airports recently projects freight volumes to grow by 48 per cent over the next five years to exceed 3 million tonnes by 2015. Cargo volume totalled 1.9 million in 2009, and is expected to rise 12.2 per cent in 2010. Improving economic conditions, Dubai’s geocentric location along with anticipated capacity increases by Emirates Airline and other cargo and joint production (cargo and passenger) airlines will be key drivers behind the increase.