Emirates SkyCargo expands fleet with first converted cargo aircraft

Dubai: Emirates SkyCargo has added a new type of aircraft to its fleet — a passenger plane that has been converted into a dedicated cargo aircraft.

The Dubai-based airline has become the first cargo carrier to operate the Boeing 777-300ERSF, a converted version of the Boeing 777-300ER passenger aircraft.

The converted aircraft, registered A6-EBK, entered commercial service with a flight from Hong Kong to Dubai carrying more than 100 tonnes of cargo.

The aircraft is the sixth new freighter to join Emirates SkyCargo’s fleet since March 2026, following the addition of five Boeing 777-F production freighters.

The Boeing 777-300ERSF conversion programme transforms former passenger aircraft into dedicated cargo aircraft, allowing the airline to extend the operational life of existing fleets while adding freight capacity.

The Emirates aircraft offers a payload capacity of 100 tonnes and 811 cubic metres of cargo volume — a 25 per cent increase in cargo volume compared with the Boeing 777-F production freighter.

With 47 pallet positions, the converted aircraft can carry 10 more pallet positions than the production freighter, making it suited to transporting larger volumes of goods, including e-commerce shipments.

E-commerce goods currently account for around 20 per cent of global air cargo tonnage, with further growth expected in coming years, according to Emirates SkyCargo.

Emirates' plans for freighters

Badr Abbas, Emirates SkyCargo’s Divisional Senior Vice President, said the addition of the converted aircraft would help the airline increase cargo capacity.

“The induction of the first converted Emirates Boeing 777-300ERSF into operational service represents the next step in the expansion of our fleet and operational agility,” he said.

“We are optimising our fleet assets by converting older Boeing 777-300ER passenger aircraft to meet the growing demand for air cargo capacity to transport goods rapidly across the world.”

He added that, combined with Emirates’ Boeing 777-F freighters, the airline had expanded its global freighter network from just over 40 destinations in February 2026 to 62 destinations.

“Together with our growing fleet of Boeing 777-F production freighters, we are providing our global customers with scalable cargo capacity and flexibility when moving cargo to and through our hub in Dubai,” Abbas said.

Emirates SkyCargo plans to add another converted Boeing 777-300ERSF aircraft by December 2026, along with five additional Boeing 777-F production freighters.

The carrier will introduce three more converted Boeing 777-300ERSF aircraft in 2027, taking its planned fleet of converted aircraft to five.

Earlier this month, Emirates SkyCargo also announced a strategic expansion of its freighter services across East and Southeast Asia.

The air cargo carrier transported more than 439,000 tonnes of cargo on its freighter and passenger flights from 12 markets in East and Southeast Asia during FY2025/26, representing an increase of around 5 percent compared with FY2024/25.