Saudi Airlines Cargo has partnered with DHL Global Forwarding to launch three weekly 747 freighter service linking Dubai to Brussels and Amsterdam in Europe.

The Saudi airline will operate direct flights from Brussels twice a week and from Amsterdam once a week to the new Al Maktoum International Airport at Dubai World Central (DWC) from next month.

The new service, which is part of a global part charter program with DHL Global Forwarding, enables Saudi Airlines Cargo to offer direct capacity from Europe to Dubai, said a senior official.

“We chose to work with Saudi Airlines Cargo on this program because, in addition to the new strategic orientation of SV, we have found the right mix of commitment, flexibility and network capabilities,” said Ingo-Alexander Rahn, executive VP Global Airfreight and head of StarBroker at DHL Global Forwarding.

Commenting on the new service, Peter Scholten, VP commercial at Saudi Airlines Cargo said, 'We are extremely excited to be partnering up with the world’s largest forwarder, DHL Global Forwarding, on the new Dubai flights from Europe.'

'This deal will help us to further expand our activities in the UAE, where we already operate scheduled B747 freighters from Sharjah to Lagos and N'djamena on top of 75 weekly passenger flights to Saudi,' he added.

Saudi Airlines Cargo operates scheduled freighter services with 12 freighters and sells the belly-capacity on 140 passenger aircraft for Saudi Arabian Airlines spanning a rapidly expanding global network of 225 destinations, Scholten said.

The cargo airline also provides cost effective and practical worldwide charter flight solutions from a growing fleet of dedicated charter aircraft, he added.-TradeArabia News Service