Man flies Emirates with 958kg in extra baggage, or how to fly a car

This has to be a record of sorts.

Short on time (but not on cash, obviously), a wealthy man reportedly flew an Aston Martin in an Emirates Boeing 777 passenger aircraft as a birthday gift for a Russian businessman.

As an expat in the UAE, we all know quite well that the baggage allowance for an average Joe is 30kg. While ordinary folk like us tend to leave a few pair of socks out of our suitcases to ensure our baggage weighs within the acceptable limit, this was clearly no concern for this gentleman.

The car boasts of a kerb weight of 988kg, or just 958kg over the specified limit for baggage allowance. Which should have resulted in an extra baggage fee of a whopping Dh53,315.62 (£9,580).

Of course the shipper did not pay the rack-rate but flew it as part of Emirates’ famous SkyCargo service, which would have taken such an object for Dh23,958 (£4,302) had it not been an automobile, which is classified as a ‘special cargo’ and therefore different rates apply.

So it was that the Aston Martin Cygnet (priced at £30,000 in UK), was flown via Emirates from Glasgow to Cyprus via Dubai, in time for the birthday celebrations of a wealthy patron.

According to the Daily Mail, the car was shipped by motor retailer CyprusCars.eu. Michael Howard-Johnston, Director of Limassol-based car retailer, told The Cyprus Daily that the car ‘had’ to arrive before August 1, the businessman’s birthday.

“I am grateful to Emirates SkyCargo because without them, this shipment could not have been delivered on time,” Howard-Johnston was quoted as saying by the daily.

“Emirates promised to deliver it in a matter of days and were the only ones who could do so. Flying it out of Glasgow Airport also saved us the time and inconvenience of further land transport. The Aston Martin Cygnet is a fantastic little car and Emirates have transported her efficiently and with great care,” he added.

The supermini has reportedly become the first car to have been transported in the hold of one of Emirates’ twice-daily 777 jets flying out of Glasgow, and it took all of 48 hours for the ‘gift’ to be transported from Glasgow Airport to Larnaca Airport in Cyprus.

The Cyprus Daily quotes Phil Rawlings, UK cargo manager for Emirates SkyCargo, as saying: “How else is an Aston Martin going to fly but Emirates? The Cygnet certainly stood out from the other plates at our Glasgow SkyCargo warehouse, especially as it’s the first time a car has flown on our Glasgow flight”.

He added: “I am sure the car enjoyed the usual Emirates service.”

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