Abu Dhabi Airports handled over 1,800 weekly cargo flights in March

The Abu Dhabi Airports has revealed that in March it processed 7,315 cargo flights and 51,885,686 million kgs of cargo, handling on average more than 1,800 flights and 13 million kgs of cargo per week.

It added that over the past month, it handled heavy import cargo volumes, mainly of facemasks and medical supplies, and an increase in perishable items, especially meat.

.@AUH is supporting global efforts to combat COVID-19 by ensuring the secure transport of essential supplies and equipment through the airport, in addition to facilitating a number of repatriation and humanitarian flights. pic.twitter.com/LA90MMKZ5t

— مكتب أبوظبي الإعلامي (@admediaoffice) May 10, 2020

In February, Etihad Cargo and Dubai’s dnata signed a new agreement which would remain in effect until 2023 and entails dnata providing warehouse and cargo handling services to 180,000 tonnes of annual air cargo carried across 15 gateways in Etihad Cargo’s global network.

Read: UAE’s Etihad Cargo, dnata extend cargo handling partnership to 15 locations

Etihad Cargo freighter network has introduced capacity to countries including India, Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia, Philippines, and South Korea, among other destinations.

Etihad Airways has been operating special flights from Abu Dhabi to London, Zurich, Brussels, Tokyo, Dublin, Amsterdam, Melbourne, Seoul, Singapore, Manila and Jakarta. On these flights, the belly-hold is also being used to transport additional critical cargo.

Read also: UAE’s Etihad expands its passenger freighter network

Abu Dhabi Airports has also established a range of health and safety precautions as it operates a select number of repatriation, humanitarian and cargo flights.

Etihad are operating limited one-way flights from 12 cities including London, Singapore, Tokyo, Melbourne, Toronto, Barcelona, Frankfurt, Jakarta, Seoul, Amsterdam, Manila and Kuala Lumpur.

Read: Etihad to start operating inbound flights for UAE residents

The safety precaution in place at the airport include thermal screening at passenger and staff entrances, free Covid-19 Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) testing for passengers and employees, workforce cluster management and regular risk assessments in coordination with Etihad Airways medical teams, and the enforcement of social distancing guidelines and roster realignment to ensure ample staffing at all times, reported official news agency WAM.

Frequent sterilisation of workspaces and common areas throughout Abu Dhabi International Airport is undertaken as well.

Earlier this month, Abu Dhabi Airports partnered with Tawazun Strategic Development Fund (TSDF) to launch the new CoDi BOT UGV (Unmanned Ground Vehicle), designed and manufactured by UAE-based company Marakeb Technologies to aid in Covid-19 disinfection tasks.

Read more: Robot technology deployed to disinfect Abu Dhabi airport, screen passengers

The UGV has three central functions including targeting of virus strains on surfaces with controlled bursts of germicidal UV rays, screening of individuals through thermal infrared monitoring and disinfection of areas using liquid cleaning agents.

The CoDi BOT UGV will be deployed throughout Abu Dhabi International Airport this month at areas such as staff zones and cargo facilities as well as used to sterilise cabins on passenger aircraft.

“We are committed to ensuring the health and safety of our employees, stakeholders and passengers as we continue to operate our airports and facilities in order to provide our communities and healthcare centres with the goods and equipment they need. We do not take this responsibility lightly and have mobilised special teams to enhance our cargo operations and facilitate the necessary repatriation and humanitarian flights departing from Abu Dhabi International Airport,” said Shareef Al Hashmi, CEO of Abu Dhabi Airports.

Added Waleed Salem Al Hemeiri, acting deputy chief operations officer of Abu Dhabi Airports, “Abu Dhabi International Airport has implemented a range of special measures across its cargo and passenger operations, including workforce cluster management, thermal imaging cameras at key transit areas, free Covid-19 tests for passengers and employees and roster realignment to ensure the continued safe and efficient management of vital supplies and repatriation flights.”

On April 8, Etihad said that it would partner with Australian company Elenium Automation to roll out a new early-warning system which uses self-service devices at Abu Dhabi airport to identify medically at-risk travellers, including passengers who are possibly in the early stages of having contracted the Covid-19 virus too.

Read: Etihad’s early-warning system at Abu Dhabi airport to identify medically at-risk travellers