That's as air cargo demand has risen to its highest recorded level ever amid the pandemic, which has seen carriers including Emirates fly cargo in otherwise-empty passenger seats. Passenger numbers from India for Emirates, just under 3 million in 2008, grew to 5.5 million a decade later. The UAE banned in-bound passenger flights from India in late April, though cargo flights continued and passenger planes return with their seats now empty. All this comes as air cargo has reached record levels after flights around the world halted when the pandemic first took hold. The International Air Transport Association, an aviation trade organization, said in March it saw the highest levels of demand ever as the world's economy slowly began to pick up.

Source: The Hindu May 09, 2021 06:56 UTC