Reliable sources in the Far East confirm to CargoForwarder Global that Air China Cargo, the all freighter daughter of Air China will begin services to Frankfurt-Hahn airport.
It is common knowledge that negotiations between Hahn’s management and Air China Cargo have been going on for some time now.
The new all freighter service is slated to start on the 3rd of September with three weekly rotations to the Hunsruck airport.
It was also revealed that Air China Cargo will use the Boeing 777F aircraft on this new route.
Furthermore, information is still not there as to which route the aircraft will take.
Possible routings are from China via the USA and then onto Hahn and back to China.
Or - directly from China to Hahn and routing then through the U.S. to China.
Air Cargo China already operates freighter services from Shanghai and Beijing to Frankfurt’s Rhine-Main and Amsterdam airports.
Whether this new service is meant to steadily replace FRA with HHN remains to be seen.
The most plausible answer is that Air China Cargo will operate from Zhengzhou airport into Hahn.
This is in accord with the recently signed agreement between the Hahn airport and the World Cargo Airport Alliance (WCAA), which is aimed at promoting all freighter services into and out of
Hahn.
It is known that Air Cargo China had applied to the U.S. authorities in May or June of this year for traffic rights.
It is believed that the original application was for a thrice weekly service on the sector Shanghai - Anchorage - Chicago - Hahn - Shanghai, with a possible addition of New York’s JFK
airport.
Whether this application has been changed to Zhengzhou as origin and destination airport remains to be seen.
Hahn airport’s management, when questioned today by CargoForwarder Global, regrets that they are unable to comment on this information at the present time.
Surely an indication that the negotiations have paid off and that this new service will take place.
If so - then this gives Hahn airport a much needed boost on the cargo side.
If, as probably negotiated, the three weekly flights are increased to daily operations, then this would put the airport somewhat more back on the map.
But, would it then operationally make sense for them to operate in the long term to both FRA and HHN?
The coming months will tell!
We’ll endeavor to keep our readers up-to-date.
Air China Cargo was founded on December 12, 2003. On March 18, 2011, Air China Limited (Air China) and Cathay Pacific Airways Limited (Cathay Pacific) completed a joint venture freight project
with Air China Cargo as the platform.
John Mc Donagh
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