Cargoitalia, the privately owned Italian freighter airline, has included Abu Dhabi Airport as one of its network points, making it the 38th international airline to operate a service out of the UAE capita, Abu Dhabi Airports Company (Adac) announced.

Operating out of its home-base of Milan Malpensa Airport, Cargoitalia will operate a twice weekly service between Italy’s financial and fashion capital to the capital of the UAE.
Abu Dhabi offers a key strategic hub for the expansion of the Italian cargo airline’s network across the Middle East and alternatively offers benefits to many businesses looking for increased access and frequency into the heart of Europe and beyond.
Operating out of its home-base in Milan, the freighter’s network boasts destinations across the United States, including New York, Chicago and Houston, and across Central America including Mexico City.  It will now be able to develop its network across the Middle East, India and East Africa, through Abu Dhabi International Airport.
“Cargoitalia’s inclusion of Abu Dhabi in its network reflects both the attraction of the airport to airlines and the ambition for growth that Abu Dhabi Airports Company has towards developing best-in-class operations that meet the current and future needs of the Emirate’s aviation infrastructure,” an Adac statement said.
Cargoitalia will see greater load capacities between these two destinations as a result of the deployment of its 70-tonne capacity DC10Fs which will be used on this route.
Mohammed Al Bulooki, director of marketing and communications, Adac, said: “We are pushing forward on an agenda that creates greater connectivity and services for our customers to, through and from Abu Dhabi’s Airports.
“This will be demonstrated both through the development of our facilities on the ground as well as a commitment to grow the number of airlines operating through our airport.”
Traffic figures for the first quarter of 2008, recently released by ADAC, saw solid results from its cargo operations which posted a 14 per cent increase or 81,651 tonnes handled in the year’s first three months.