OREANDA-NEWS. Emirates SkyCargo reinforced its position as a leading force in the industry by winning the “Cargo Operator of the Year (Commercial Airline) award for the fourth consecutive time at the prestigious Aviation Business Awards ceremony held in Dubai last week.

Against the backdrop of the Middle East's growth as a logistics hub, Emirates SkyCargo's win recognises its success in delivering a high level of performance, excellent network coverage, and responsible working practices that provide customers with cost and time savings. More importantly, it illustrates Emirates SkyCargo's ability to do so consistently across the region, and not only to maintain but also improve on its overall performance.

“This award speaks to the excellence of our operations, and the dedication of our team throughout the network. It stands as a testament to their competence and commitment in providing an exceptionally high quality service to our customers.” said Nabil Sultan, Emirates Divisional Senior Vice President, Cargo.

Emirates' Vice President Cargo Commercial UAE Sales, Jassim Saif received the 'Cargo Operator of the Year 2013' award at the Aviation Business Awards ceremony held in Dubai last week.

Emirates SkyCargo received the award at a time of significant growth. The freight division of Emirates airline recently added a new Boeing 777 Freighter aircraft to its fleet, bringing Emirates SkyCargo's B777F fleet to 10 to meet current needs and long-term growth. This comes ahead of the move of its freighter operations to Dubai World Central's Al Maktoum International Airport in May 2014, where a dedicated freighter cargo terminal that will be able to handle 700 000 tonnes of cargo annually and various support infrastructure is currently under construction.

Emirates SkyCargo now serves a global network of 137 destinations in 77 countries, including 43 scheduled freighter services operated with 12 freighters (two Boeing 747-400 ERFs and 10 777Fs) aircraft.

In addition to Cargo Operator of the Year award, SkyCargo has in recent times been presented with a number of prestigious industry awards. These include 'Cargo Airline of the Year 2013' (Air Cargo Week), 'Cargo Airline of the Year 2013', 'Best Middle East Cargo Airline' (both Air Cargo News), 'Best Air Cargo Carrier Middle East' (AFSCA), 'Cargo Operator of the Year' (SCATA) and 'Air Cargo Excellence Award' (Air Cargo World).

Organized by magazine publisher ITP Business, the annual Aviation Business Awards (ABA) has established itself as the ultimate celebration of achievements within the Middle East aerospace industry - with the aim of honouring leadership and innovation in the regional aviation industry. Votes were submitted online and assessed by a panel of five distinguished judges from the Middle East aerospace industry. The award was accepted by Jassim Saif, Emirates' Vice President Cargo Commercial UAE Sales on behalf of Emirates SkyCargo at a gala dinner attended by senior executives in the aviation industry.