Love is in the air as Emirates transports thousands of flowers for Valentine's Day

Business is blooming as Emirates SkyCargo organises nine special charter flights, carrying flowers across five continents, ahead of February 14

Emirates SkyCargo spreads love around the world by operating nine Boeing 777 Freighter charter flights carrying flowers across five continents. Courtesy Emirates Airline

Love is in the air thanks to Emirates as the airline transports thousands of flowers from across the globe ahead of the most romantic day of the year.

The airline has been gearing up for Valentine's Day by staging a series of special charter flights which will allow people spanning five different continents to say it with flowers on February 14.

They include the first ever direct flower charters from Quito in Ecuador to Los Angeles in the United States and from Nairobi to Sydney.

In total, Emirates SkyCargo has organised nine special charter flights to meet the surge in demand for flowers from traders and members of the public alike.

In January, the airline transported more than 4,000 tonnes of flowers globally, almost 1,200 of which were flown from Ecuador and 2,200 tonnes of flowers were from Nairobi.

Flowers were also transported from Thailand, Ethiopia, Sri Lanka and India.

After being harvested, the flowers are then sorted, arranged in bouquets and packed into boxes, which are loaded on the aircraft. The temperature on board is maintained between 2°C and 5°C to help keep them fresh on the flight.

Emirates SkyCargo planes have three different sections – Emirates Fresh, Emirates Fresh Active and Emirates Fresh Breathe – for freighting perishable cargo such as food and flowers. The Emirates Fresh Breathe section is used for flowers.

In 2018, Emirates SkyCargo transported more than 50,000 tonnes of flowers all over the world. A majority of the flowers, more than 27,000 tonnes, originated in Kenya. This is estimated to be around 15 per cent of the overall flower exports from the nation.