Boeing and Emirates have finalised an order for 10 freighters of classification 747-8 during an official ceremony held at Dubai’s Department of Civil Aviation.

The freighters are valued at $2.8 billion at list prices and were previously attributed to an unidentified customer on Boeing’s Orders & Deliveries website. The ceremonial signing was made by Emirates chairman and CEO Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum and Boeing’s Dubai-based sales director Ken Schulz.
“Dubai has seen tremendous growth in the opportunities to provide our customers across the globe custom-tailored freight solutions,” Sheikh Ahmed explained.
“Moreover, developing this side of our business is elemental to Emirates’ maintaining a leading position amongst the world’s airlines and we will take full advantage of the extended capacity these new Boeing freighters offer.”
Emirates SkyCargo will receive its first delivery of Boeing’s latest heavy freighter in 2010.
The 747-8F is an advanced design that offers even greater operational efficiency for global freight operations that are based largely on the industry-leading 747 freighter family.
”We’re confident the 747-8 brings the economics and reliability that will help the company continue to expand its freight-carrying capabilities around the world,” Schulz said.
Emirates SkyCargo selected the 747-8F to meet an increased requirement for capacity and operational flexibility.
The 747-8F sets the industry standard with the lowest trip costs and a payload capacity of 140 tonnes, while offering reduced noise and lower emissions.
Emirates’ new 747-8 Freighters position the carrier to take advantage of strong regional and international cargo markets.
Air cargo traffic into, out of and within the Middle East accounted for 5.8 per cent of the world’s tonnage.