Dutch freight carrier Martinair Cargo has become the first major overseas company to inaugurate scheduled services to Al Maktoum International Airport in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. The company launched services on September 2 and is currently offering three return flights per week. These all originate at the airline’s Amsterdam base, end their journeys in Hong Kong and return via Chennai although the exact outbound and inbound routings vary on each rotation with once weekly stops in Bahrain, Doha and Delhi. The flights are all operated using Boeing 747-400 Freighters.

From this winter Martinair will focus purely on the freight market having significantly reduced its passenger charter program over the past couple of years. It operates a mixed fleet of eight B747-400s (a mix of BCF and ERF variants) and seven McDonnell Douglas MD-11s across a global network that includes destinations in Europe, the Middle East, the Far East, Africa, the Americas and Australasia.