Emirates to expand in markets from China to US for new courier express service

Emirates is targeting major markets in Australia, India, China and the US to expand its new parcel delivery service, as it unlocks new revenue streams and maximises the use of its wide-body fleet. The Dubai-based airline will start package delivery for Australia by the end of April and India in the “next few months” to tap into the Asian economy's $8.6b outbound courier express parcels market, Dennis Lister, senior vice president of product and innovation at Emirates Skycargo, told The National. The “massive” Chinese market will be next, followed “eventually” by the US and then the rest of Emirates' global network of 148 destinations in the long-term by leveraging the belly-hold of its mammoth fleet of passenger aircraft and dedicated freighters. “The goal needs to be wherever Emirates flies, we can have connectivity for passengers and for parcels in the long-term,” Lister said on the sidelines of the Iata World Cargo Symposium in Dubai. “We want to be everywhere on the planet and to be the largest integrated door-to-door parcel delivery entity on a passenger fleet, cross-border, in the next three to five years.”<br/>