Emirates appoints Badr Abbas as new leader of SkyCargo

After four months without a leader in its SkyCargo division, Emirates has finally appointed a new senior vice president of cargo, among a number of other executive appointments.

Badr Abbas (pictured) has been appointed as the new head of the cargo division, after Nabil Sultan moved to the passenger role in March.

Mr. Abbas has been with Emirates for over 24 years, most recently as SVP Commercial Operations (Africa), a position he held for almost five years. Before that, he held the same position in the Far East, and also specialised in commercial operations in the UAE and Oman.

Emirates has announced 10 appointments effective today and two more in September. The carrier, which has long sought to promote UAE nationals, noted that seven people made the list.

His Highness Sheikh Ahmed said: “These appointments reflect the expanded scale, breadth and ambition of our business. I am delighted that we have been able to fill these positions with internal talent, including UAE nationals. The Emirates Group will continue to invest in being the employer of choice for the best talent in the industry, delivering world-leading products and services, and reflecting Dubai’s vision to be number one in everything we do.”

A decades-old joke at Emirates was that the company name stood for “English-Managed, Indian-Run, Arabs Take Executive Salaries.” But over the past few years, the company has worked hard to promote and retain local talent.