World gets roses in time for V-day, thanks to Dubai freighter flights
dubai — The romantics of the world need millions of roses around this time of the year — and Dubai freighter flights are making sure they get them fresh from the flower farms of Kenya and Ecuador, among other major producers across the globe.
In the run-up to Valentine’s Day, Emirates SkyCargo, the freight division of Emirates, has started operating a total of nine freighter flights solely for flowers, just to meet the spike in demand from flower trade hubs like the Aalsmeer market in the Netherlands and the rest of the world. These flower freighters are run over and above the carrier’s usual daily operations. Each SkyCargo aircraft can transport up to 100 tonnes of cargo, which means the nine freighters
can carry up to 900 tonnes of roses, which are added to around 4,000 tonnes transported monthly. If one stem-cut rose weighs 25g, 900 tonnes roughly translate to 36 million
roses — all for love.
In 2018, Emirates SkyCargo transported over 50,000 tonnes of flowers globally. A majority of these, over 27,000 tonnes, originated from Kenya. In January this year, it lifted over 2,200 tonnes of flowers from Nairobi, and flew over 1,200 tonnes from Ecuador to Amsterdam.
Emirates SkyCargo operates daily freighter flights to Nairobi, Kenya, and four weekly freighters to Quito, Ecuador, flying flowers to destinations across its network.
The carrier also transports flowers in the belly hold of its passenger aircraft from other markets such as India, Thailand and Sri Lanka. SkyCargo started operating its first freighter flight with flowers from Nairobi to Sydney and from Quito directly to Los Angeles. This means end customers are now getting their flower fix straight from the farms.