Lufthansa Cargo

Last updated
Lufthansa Cargo AG
Lufthansa Cargo logo.svg
IATA ICAO Call sign
LHGECLUFTHANSA CARGO
Founded1977;47 years ago (1977)
(as German Cargo)
Commenced operations1993;31 years ago (1993)
(as Lufthansa Cargo)
Hubs Frankfurt Airport
Subsidiaries AeroLogic (50%)
Fleet size15
Destinations57
Parent company Lufthansa Group
Headquarters Frankfurt, Hesse, Germany
Key peopleAshwin Bhat (CEO)
Website www.lufthansa-cargo.com

Lufthansa Cargo AG is a German cargo airline and a wholly owned subsidiary of Lufthansa. It operates worldwide air freight and logistics services and is headquartered at Frankfurt Airport, the main hub of Lufthansa. [1] [2] Besides operating dedicated cargo planes, the company also has access to cargo capacities of 350 passenger aircraft of the Lufthansa Group.

Contents

History

A former Lufthansa Cargo McDonnell Douglas DC-8-73 in 1994. McDonnell Douglas DC-8-73AF, Lufthansa Cargo AN0999262.jpg
A former Lufthansa Cargo McDonnell Douglas DC-8-73 in 1994.
A former Lufthansa Cargo Boeing 747-200 featuring the WOW Alliance logo in 2004. Lufthansa Cargo Boeing 747-200 Lebeda.jpg
A former Lufthansa Cargo Boeing 747-200 featuring the WOW Alliance logo in 2004.
A now retired Lufthansa Cargo McDonnell Douglas MD-11F wearing the airline's former livery in 2010. D-ALCF (4877501280) (2).jpg
A now retired Lufthansa Cargo McDonnell Douglas MD-11F wearing the airline's former livery in 2010.
Lufthansa Cargo Boeing 777F D-ALFF@PEK (20200724072617).jpg
Lufthansa Cargo Boeing 777F

Foundation and early years

Recognizing the growing importance of the cargo business, Lufthansa established its cargo subsidiary in 1977 called German Cargo Services GmbH. [3] Previously, cargo operations were executed in-house, under the Lufthansa Cargo name, when – in an effort to restructure the company – the cargo division was re-integrated into its parent, and split up into two parts (one for scheduled operations using Lufthansa-owned aircraft, and one for freight and logistics services using chartered or leased aircraft).[ citation needed ]

In 1996, Hinduja Cargo Services was founded as a joint venture between Hinduja Group and Lufthansa Cargo. The company operated a fleet of Boeing 727 freighters, flying from airports in the Indian subcontinent to feed Lufthansa Cargo's hub at Sharjah International Airport. [4] The airline suspended operations in 2000 in favour of direct services from Frankfurt using Lufthansa Cargo aircraft. [5]

Development since 2000

In 2000, Lufthansa Cargo was a founding member of the WOW Alliance, a global cargo airline alliance, but left in 2007 as it did not see any benefits for the future.

In 2002 the special logistics company time:matters was founded, which was sold in the meantime, but is now again a wholly owned subsidiary of Lufthansa Cargo. [6]

Lufthansa Cargo was created as a limited stock company on 30 November 2004, along with Lufthansa Cargo Charter. Lufthansa Cargo uses LH (the same IATA code as Lufthansa), as well as GEC (the former ICAO code of German Cargo) as airline codes.

As of 2007, Lufthansa Cargo used to operate a hub for intra-Asian flights at Astana International Airport in Kazakhstan, but was forced to relocate it to Yemelyanovo Airport in Russia in 2007, because otherwise the airline would have been banned from entering Russian airspace, in what was described as an act of economic blackmail by the Russian authorities. [7] [8]

In 2004, Jade Cargo International was founded as a joint venture between Shenzhen Airlines, Lufthansa Cargo, and the German Investment Corporation, a German governmental entity. [9] This venture operated a fleet of six Boeing 747 freighters that flew to destinations that include Frankfurt, Chennai, Shanghai, and Chengdu. Jade ended operations in 2011. [9]

As of 2011, all Lufthansa Cargo aircraft were based at Frankfurt Airport, the seventh busiest freight hub in the world, where the airline enjoys a strong co-operation with Fraport, the operator of the airport. Cargo facilities at the airport are divided into two places (Cargo City North and South), of which the first one is nearly exclusively used by Lufthansa Cargo. Lufthansa Cargo previously had a secondary base at Leipzig/Halle Airport, the European hub for DHL Express, from where it operated flights on behalf of DHL. Activities at this airport gradually came to an end following the formation of AeroLogic as a joint venture between Lufthansa and DHL, which henceforth caters for the DHL flights, allowing Lufthansa Cargo to concentrate on other services. [10]

In May 2011, Lufthansa Cargo opened another hub at Rajiv Gandhi International Airport in Hyderabad, India, to transport temperature-sensitive goods, especially pharmaceuticals, between South East Asia and Europe (and onwards to the United States). [11]

In 2019, heyworld GmbH was founded as a wholly owned subsidiary of Lufthansa Cargo with a focus on eCommerce logistics. [12] The company and another Lufthansa subsidiary was planned to benefit from the Airbus A321F operations. [13]

In September 2020, Lufthansa Cargo confirmed it was retiring its remaining McDonnell Douglas MD-11F during 2021 despite the grown freight demand in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. [14] The last MD-11F flight took place on 17 October 2021. [15]

In June 2024, Lufthansa Cargo announced to inaugurate its first freighter services from Munich Airport with scheduled flights to Istanbul. [16]

Destinations

As of May 2021, Lufthansa Cargo serves 57 cities worldwide with its cargo aircraft. [17]

Fleet

Current fleet

As of December 2023, the Lufthansa Cargo fleet consists of the following aircraft: [18]

AircraftIn serviceOrdersNotes
Airbus A321-200/P2F [19] 4—
Boeing 777F 112 [20]
Boeing 777-8F —7Deliveries between 2027 and 2030. [20]
Total159

Fleet development

The initial fleet of Lufthansa Cargo had previously belonged to German Cargo, and was expanded by cargo-converted former Lufthansa mainline Boeing 747-200s. From 1998, the airline began to gradually phase out all other aircraft types in favour of a fleet entirely consisting of the McDonnell Douglas MD-11 (which Lufthansa received as freighter versions in 2001 after MD-11 production ended) version and its successor, the Boeing 777 freighter. In March 2011, the order of five Boeing 777F was announced, the same aircraft type which had earlier been chosen for AeroLogic. [21] Almost the entire Lufthansa Cargo fleet today is composed of purpose-built freighter aircraft. Lufthansa Cargo had planned to retire its remaining MD-11s by December 2020, but the retirement was delayed due to the increased cargo demand caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

With the delivery of the first Boeing 777F, Lufthansa Cargo started to name their aircraft in a scheme referring to typical greetings of the countries they serve. The first 777F was named Good day, USA, while an MD-11F was named Buenos días México for example. [22]

In October 2024, Lufthansa CityLine transferred all four its Airbus A321-200/P2F to Lufthansa Cargo, which it had them operated for. [19]

Former fleet

Over the years, the following aircraft types were operated:[ citation needed ]

AircraftTotalIntroducedRetiredNotes
Boeing 737-200F 319931995
Boeing 737-300SF 119941997
Boeing 747-200F 1019932005
Douglas DC-8-73F 519931997
McDonnell Douglas MD-11F 1919982021 [15]

Accidents and incidents

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References

  1. ↑ "Lufthansa Cargo appoints new regional managers Archived 2016-08-12 at the Wayback Machine ." Lufthansa Cargo. 6 February 2008. Retrieved on 18 September 2009.
  2. ↑ "Imprint Archived 2011-07-28 at the Wayback Machine ." Lufthansa Cargo. Retrieved on 28 May 2011. "Lufthansa Cargo AG Flughafenbereich West Tor 25, Gebäude 451 D-60546 Frankfurt am Main"
  3. ↑ Grüneberg, Anne (24 June 2020). "Chronologie: Der tiefe Fall der Lufthansa". www.rnd.de (in German). Retrieved 2023-03-21.
  4. ↑ "Lufthansa completes cargo formalities". FlightGlobal . 3 April 1996. Retrieved 19 July 2020.
  5. ↑ "Lufthansa Cargo drops Hinduja link". FlightGlobal . 4 April 2000. Retrieved 19 July 2020.
  6. ↑ "Company". time:matters. Retrieved 2022-02-01.
  7. ↑ Russia 'Blackmails' Lufthansa over Cargo Hubs Spiegel Online International 11/02/2007
  8. ↑ "German flights row highlights EU-Russia trade tensions". 5 November 2007. Retrieved 10 July 2015.
  9. 1 2 Sheahan, Maria; Maushagen, Peter (2011-12-16). "Lufthansa Cargo China near tipping point: CEO". Reuters. Retrieved 2023-03-21.
  10. ↑ AeroLogic outlines launch and expansion plans Flight Global, 28 January 2008
  11. ↑ "Lufthansa Cargo eröffnet Pharma-Drehkreuz Hyderabad". airliners.de. Archived from the original on 28 February 2013. Retrieved 10 July 2015.
  12. ↑ "Lufthansa Cargo gründet heyworld". Austrian Wings (in German). 5 June 2019. Retrieved 18 September 2022.
  13. ↑ "Lufthansa Cargo 'rides the waves', expanding into A321Fs and long-haul leisure". The Loadstar. 2021-07-08. Retrieved 2022-01-17.
  14. ↑ aerotelegraph.com (German) 2 September 2021
  15. 1 2 flugrevue.de (German) 17 October 2021
  16. ↑ ch-aviation.com - Lufthansa Cargo launches freighter operations from Munich 19 June 2024
  17. ↑ "Lufthansa Cargo focuses on Latin America" (Press release). lufthansa-cargo.com. 27 September 2013. Archived from the original on 15 November 2013. Retrieved 14 November 2013.
  18. ↑ "Our fleet". Lufthansa Cargo. Retrieved 3 July 2023.
  19. 1 2 airliners.de - "Lufthansa Cityline hands over A321-P2F to Lufthansa Cargo" (German) 4 November 2024
  20. 1 2 "Lufthansa Cargo orders ten Boeing freighters" (Press release). Lufthansa Cargo. 9 May 2022. Retrieved 9 May 2022.
  21. ↑ COMKOM° GmbH, Germany. "Lufthansa invests in passenger and freighter fleet". Archived from the original on 15 March 2012. Retrieved 10 July 2015.
  22. ↑ "Lufthansa Cargo". Lufthansa Taufnamen. Retrieved 9 November 2019.
  23. ↑ Ranter, Harro. "ASN Aircraft accident Boeing 707-330C D-ABUY Rio de Janeiro-Galeão International Airport, RJ (GIG)". aviation-safety.net. Retrieved 2022-02-18.
  24. ↑ Ranter, Harro. "ASN Aircraft accident Boeing 747-230F D-ABYU Hong Kong-Kai Tak International Airport (HKG)". aviation-safety.net. Aviation Safety Network . Retrieved 2020-11-02.
  25. ↑ Ranter, Harro. "ASN Aircraft accident Boeing 727-243F VT-LCI Kathmandu-Tribhuvan Airport (KTM)". aviation-safety.net. Aviation Safety Network. Retrieved 2020-11-02.
  26. ↑ Ranter, Harro (7 November 2004). "ASN Aircraft accident Boeing 747-230F (SCD) TF-ARR Sharjah Airport (SHJ)". aviation-safety.net. Aviation Safety Network. Retrieved 10 July 2015.
  27. ↑ "UPDATE 2-Lufthansa cargo plane crashes at Saudi airport". Reuters. 27 July 2010. Retrieved 2010-07-27.
  28. ↑ "Lufthansa cargo plane crashes at Riyadh airport". BBC News. BBC. 2010-03-27. Retrieved 2010-07-27.
  29. ↑ Ranter, Harro (27 July 2010). "ASN Aircraft accident McDonnell Douglas MD-11F D-ALCQ Riyadh-King Khalid International Airport (RUH)". aviation-safety.net. Aviation Safety Network. Retrieved 10 July 2015.
  30. ↑ Ranter, Harro. "ASN Aircraft accident McDonnell Douglas MD-11F D-ALCE São Paulo/Campinas-Viracopos International Airport, SP (VCP)". aviation-safety.net. Aviation Safety Network. Retrieved 2020-11-02.

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