Cargoitalia has become 38th airline at Abu Dhabi Airport to operate a service out of the UAE’s capital.

Operating out of its home-base of Milan Malpensa Airport, Cargoitalia will operate a twice weekly service between the Italy’s financial and fashion capital to the capital of the UAE, the airline said in a statement.

Abu Dhabi offers a key strategic hub for the expansion of the Italian cargo airline’s network across the Middle East and alternatively offers benefits to many businesses looking for increased access and frequency into the heart of Europe and beyond.

The freighter’s network boasts destinations across the United States, including New York, Chicago and Houston; Central America including Mexico City; and will now be able to develop its network across the Middle East, India and East Africa, through Abu Dhabi International Airport.

Cargoitalia will see greater load capacities between these two destinations as a result of the deployment of its 70 tonnes capacity, DC10Fs which will be used on this route, the airline said.

“We would like to welcome Cargoitalia to Abu Dhabi and hope that the route will be a mutually beneficial one for the airline and its customers,” said Abu Dhabi Airports Company (ADAC) marketing and communications director Mohammed Al Bulooki.

“We are pushing forward on an agenda that creates greater connectivity and services for our customers to, through and from Abu Dhabi’s Airports. This is will be demonstrated both through the development of our facilities on the ground as well as a commitment to grow the number of airlines operating through our airports,” said Al Bulooki.

Traffic figures for the first quarter of 2008, recently released by ADAC, saw solid results from its cargo operations posting a 14 per cent increase or 81,651 tons handled in the year’s first three months.

Year-on-year performance for March was maintained at a steady nine per cent.

There was also a solid year-on-year performance from cargo in February 2008, which posted a 20.1pc increase, up to 27,341 tonnes from 22,773 tonnes on the previous year’s figures. – TradeArabia News Service