Etihad’s new services strengthen Europe-UAE trade ties

The rising demand for speedy delivery of merchandise has spurred Etihad Cargo, the freight division of Etihad Airways, to introduce three new freighter services from Europe.

The carrier has launched the additional flights, operating Boeing 777 freighters, from East Midlands and Stansted airports in the United Kingdom and from Copenhagen in Denmark.

The new routes bring the carrier’s number of freighter destinations in Europe to nine. Etihad Cargo already operates maindeck capacity, or non-passenger jet haulage, from Amsterdam, Frankfurt (Frankfurt Main and Frankfurt-Hahn), Milan, Brussels and Zaragoza, as well as belly capacity on its passenger flights from the continent.

The European Union is one of the UAE’s biggest trading partners, with non-oil trade between the two totalling US$65 billion in 2015, according to Eurostat. In the same year the UAE was the eighth-largest destination of European exports, excluding intra-EU trade, and the EU’s 13th-largest trading partner overall.

The Abu Dhabi carrier’s route expansion follows that of the region’s third of the ‘Big Three’ carriers Qatar Airways – the other two being Etihad and Emirates – which in March launched new freighter routes to Budapest and Prague.

The carrier in December added an Airbus A330F, bringing its fleet of those aircraft to eight, and a newly-built Boeing 747F jumbo jet nose loader to add to the existing double-decker in the cargo fleet. Three more Boeing 777 freighters are scheduled to arrive by the end of this year, bring the fleet of 777 cargo planes to 11.

The senior vice president of Etihad Cargo, David Kerr, said the new routes meant the Abu Dhabi airline was now well placed to benefit from the rise in freight capacity needs.

“We have responded to our customers’ demand for freighter capacity out of Europe, and our freighter fleet gives us the flexibility of deploying capacity when and where it is required,” he said.

“These three new services will connect producers with consumers halfway around the world. Manufacturers in the UK and Denmark can now get their merchandise to their customers in the Middle East even faster, in as little as 24 hours in some cases.”

As well as boosting Europe-UAE trade links, the airline is also hard at work helping to grow the country’s National Innovation Strategy.

Etihad has teamed up with Cognit, the joint venture established between Mubadala and IBM Watson to be the exclusive provider of Watson technology in the Mena region, to launch a joint hackathon, in celebration of the nationwide Innovation Week 2016, being held between November 20 and 26.

UAE Innovation Week, part of the National Innovation Strategy, is a week-long initiative designed to acknowledge and promote the country’s position as a global innovation hub.

The Cognit and Etihad hackathon will take place at Etihad’s state-of-the-art Innovation Centre, and will feature the skills of over 30 talented computer science and engineering students. The students were selected from leading Abu Dhabi based universities, including the Institute of Applied Technology, Higher Colleges of Technology, Khalifa University and New York University Abu Dhabi (NYUAD). Hackathon participants will use IBM Watson’s cognitive technology to create new innovative applications to benefit the travel and aviation industry – one of the cornerstone sectors to support the diversification and growth of the UAE economy.

“Cognit was launched during UAE Innovation Week 2015 and I am proud to be able to celebrate along with the rest of the nation to promote the ICT talent and continued ICT transformation in our nation,’ said Amal Al Jabri, the general manager of Cognit.

“The hackathon, in partnership with Etihad, demonstrates an important commitment Cognit has not only to advance the interest in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (stem) subjects and skills with students, but also to the broader local developer and start-up community who can help ignite the UAE’s knowledge-based economy aspirations.”

Robert Webb, the Etihad Group chief information & technology officer, said developing cognitive computing skills was a vital element of future growth.

Cognitive computing is the simulation of human thought processes in a computerised model. It involves self-learning systems that use data mining, pattern recognition and natural language processing to mimic the way the human brain works.

“Etihad has been a true pioneer in the investment and advancement of transformative technology, including IBM Watson, not just within the aviation industry but the business environment.,” Mr Webb said.

“We believe cognitive computing will shape the future of aviation, locally and internationally, and the hackathon alongside our partner, Cognit, demonstrates our passion for challenging the status quo. We encourage the students to think creatively to develop new solutions that could revolutionise our sector.”

chnelson@thenational.ae

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