Midex Airlines, the first privately owned all-cargo airline in the UAE, is expanding its fleet to nine aircraft from seven, said a senior executive of the company.

"We are finalising an all-cash deal worth almost $100 million [Dh367m] with Boeing and will add two Boeing B747-200F aircraft to our fleet by February," Jassim Al Bastaki, Director-General of Midex Airlines, told Emirates Business.

The airline also has plans to lease its aircraft to third parties. "We're in negotiations with two companies to lease our aircraft on a wet lease or Aircraft Crew Maintenance and Insurance (ACMI) basis," he said.

Midex Airlines, which was launched in 2007, operates from Al Ain and lately has started its service from Dubai. Currently, with one Boeing B747-200F for long-haul flights and six Airbus A300B4-203 F for short-haul routes, it moves cargo from the Indian Subcontinent to the UAE, Europe and American destinations.

"Our business model is to link the Western and Eastern markets using the UAE as the hub. We carry mostly textiles, furniture, perishables, express and parcels from the Indian Subcontinent," said Al Bastaki.

"We operate in Mumbai, Kochi, Karachi, Dhaka and Colombo, carrying cargo, express and parcels to Al Ain where 30 per cent of the cargo is offloaded while the rest 70 per cent is taken to Europe and Canada by Boeing B747. From Europe we carry cargo to the UAE, Afghanistan and Iraq," he added.

Midex Airline is part of Midex International Group whose turnover for last year was Dh45 billion.

The global slowdown in trade and cargo movement has severely impacted the logistics and cargo industry. Midex Airlines too had to restructure its business model to match the market direction, he said.

"Before the downturn, we carried 90 to 100 tonnes a day of cargo from the Indian Subcontinent to the UAE and Europe. But the cargo volume has gone down almost by 30 to 40 per cent in a year," he said.

Additionally, the downturn also reduced the cargo yields, pushing the company to cut down its scheduled flights and focus more on charter services, he said.

"We reduced our scheduled flights from the Indian Subcontinent to Europe and the US to one flight a week now from five flights per week earlier, and from this year we have started focussing on charter services to new markets such as Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya," said Al Bastaki.

However, he believes the market is on the upside now.

"By January, we are planning to restore our earlier services of five scheduled flights as the market looks promising and things are coming back to normal."

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