UAE defence firm EDGE taps Etihad Cargo to move high-value shipments worldwide

EDGE will route airfreight for its 35 entities through Etihad Cargo under new deal

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Nivetha Dayanand, Assistant Business Editor
UAE defence firm EDGE taps Etihad Cargo to move high-value shipments worldwide

Dubai: EDGE Group has signed a global air carrier services agreement with Etihad Airways, consolidating its airfreight operations under the UAE’s national carrier as it expands its advanced industrial and defence operations.

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The agreement, signed at Make it in the Emirates 2026, will see EDGE procure airfreight services through Etihad Airways’ cargo operations for shipments on behalf of the group and its portfolio of 35 entities.

The deal brings EDGE’s airfreight requirements closer to the UAE’s own logistics network, giving Etihad Cargo a larger role in supporting shipments linked to advanced industrial, defence and high-value operations.

Building local supply chains

EDGE said the agreement is part of its broader strategy to prioritise local partnerships across its supply chain and operations. The group said the move would ensure that, as it grows, it continues to invest in and rely on UAE institutions and capabilities.

The arrangement also fits into the wider industrial strategy behind Make it in the Emirates, where government and private-sector entities are being encouraged to deepen domestic manufacturing, logistics and supply chain links.

Hamad Al Marar, Managing Director and CEO of EDGE Group, said: “This agreement reflects our commitment to fostering meaningful local partnerships that create lasting value for the UAE. By working with Etihad Airways, we are not only optimising our own operations but contributing to the growth of a truly integrated national industrial base.”

Antonoaldo Neves, Chief Executive Officer of Etihad Airways, said: “Etihad Cargo provides the reliability, security and global reach needed to serve advanced industrial and defence operations while strengthening national capability through local partnerships. Consolidating EDGE’s airfreight operations with Etihad Cargo reflects a high level of trust in the UAE’s national carrier to support complex, high value and time critical requirements at scale.”

Nivetha Dayanand
Nivetha DayanandAssistant Business Editor
Nivetha Dayanand is Assistant Business Editor at Gulf News, covering aviation, financial markets and commodities. A business and financial journalist with a strong interest in multimedia storytelling, she regularly takes complex financial and economic subjects beyond the written word, producing explainer videos that make them easier for a wider audience to understand. Nivetha has interviewed senior policymakers, business leaders and global financial figures both on and off camera. Her past guests include UAE Minister of Economy and Tourism Abdulla bin Touq Al Marri, Khaled bin Alwaleed Al Saud, a member of the House of Saud and the founder and CEO of KBW Ventures, Jihad Azour, Director of the Middle East and Central Asia Department at the International Monetary Fund and Indian ministers Hardeep Singh Puri and N. Chandrababu Naidu. She has also hosted and moderated panels, conferences and awards shows, bringing her newsroom experience to live conversations on business, finance and the economy. An Erasmus Mundus journalism alum, Nivetha is drawn to stories that affect people directly and to reporting that gives a platform to voices that might otherwise go unheard. She was among the first journalists to speak to Petrofac employees in the UAE about unpaid salaries, broke the news of the planned demolition of Dubai’s well-known “Toyota Building”, and helped set the record straight on widely circulated claims that a giant replica of the Moon was coming to Dubai. More recently, her exclusive interview with EDGE Group CEO Hamad Al Marar revealed how the UAE-based defence group deployed its systems along the country’s shore border and established a geofence around the UAE within 48 hours of the February 28 escalation. Prior to joining Gulf News, Nivetha worked at ITP Media, where she helped launch Finance Middle East, a new publication covering the region’s financial sector. Her role spanned reporting and editing, video production, interviews and events. Across print, digital, and video, she focuses on finding the people behind business stories and explaining why those stories matter to the audience reading or watching them.
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