Lufthansa and DHL Lauch a New Cargo Airline

This is a 50-50 venture with the two companies alone responsible for warehousing and transshipping from the Lepzig/Halle Airport, at which it will be based. Lufthansa Cargo and DHL Express will be using the cargo capacities of eleven new Boeing 777-200LRF aircraft, the first of which is scheduled for delivery in February 2009. The planes will be leased. The airline itself is scheduled to begin operations in April 2009.

The yet-to-be-named airline will gradually expand its route network. It will fly to Singapore, Bangkok, Dubai, Bombay, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Seoul, Nagoya, Almaty, East Midlands and Milan weekdays. On weekends, it will fly to Shanghai, Astana, Singapore, Bangkok, Sharjah, Hong Kong, Chicago and New York.

Carsten Spohr, Lufthansa Cargo AG chairman notes, "Joint utilization of aircraft capacities will enable us to harness growth opportunities cost-efficiently. DHL will be commercially responsible for operating the express network with additional cargo from Lufthansa Cargo on weekdays. Flight schedules at weekends will suit the customer requirements of Lufthansa Cargo with onload freight on those flights from DHL."

For its part, Charles Graham, CEO Aviation DHL Express, adds, "With the new joint company, we will further improve express service between Europe and the Asia growth markets. We are thereby augmenting our global air network strategy. Our customers will profit from more capacities, better transit times and higher quality all round."