LH Cargo Expands Network, Ups Capacity and Frequencies

With the introduction with this year’s summer schedule which comes into effect on March 31, the freight carrier densifies its international network and pushes additional transport capacity into the market. The move comes at a time where global freight volumes tend to decline.

Amazing! The carrier needs an entire page to list the many flight changes and routes served as of next April. Their network offensive comes as result of additional capacity provided by three Being 777Fs, two flying with the crane livery painted at their fin while a third Triple Seven belongs to AeroLogic’s fleet but is operated exclusively by Lufthansa Cargo. In fall, another B777F will follow, also flying in AeroLogic colors but on behalf of LH Cargo.

Boosting efficiency and reliability, CEO Gerber
Simultaneously, two of their aging MD-11Fs will be phased out, one in summer, the second unit at a later date this year.
Stated CEO Peter Gerber shortly ago, while announcing the fleet decisions: “We are delighted to be in a position to put four brand-new freighters into operation in 2019. This will effectively modernize our own fleet at our Frankfurt Airport base and further boost our efficiency and reliability.” The manager went on to say: “At the same time, we are focusing as a shareholder on growing AeroLogic, our fifty-fifty joint venture with DHL Express at Leipzig Airport.”

Numerous changes of scheduled freighter flights
The fleet growth leads to a 10 percent increase in transport capacity. Hence, numerous additional freighter routes and frequency densifications on existing segments will be introduced as of 31 March.
Particularly LH clients based in East and Southeast Asia together with their European colleagues will benefit from this offering, but also agents in North and Latin America.
Here is a short overview of the upcoming changes:

Frankfurt - Tokyo (NRT) will get two additional flights, with one of them stopping over at Novosibirsk on the westbound leg.
Frankfurt – Osaka: from 2 to 3 weekly flights
Frankfurt – Incheon: up from 8 to 9 a week
Frankfurt – Hong Kong, daily instead of six weekly services
Frankfurt – Mumbai, a new daily connection
Frankfurt – Chennai / Ho Chi Minh City, from 1 to 2 weekly

Another focus is laid on North and Latin America as seen below:

Frankfurt – Atlanta: from 6 to daily flights
Frankfurt – Chicago: up from 8 to 12 per week
Frankfurt – Latin America: Mexico City, Buenos Aires, Montevideo, and Viracopos will be serviced by B777Fs with one of the Viracopos flights stopping over at Dakar, Senegal on its way back from Brazil to Germany.

Time saving operations
Operating Triple Sevens to and from Latin America not only leads to a capacity increase of about 15 tons per flight compared to LH Cargo’s MD-11 freighters but the changes of rotations and network adjustments reduce the flight times between Europe and Latin America by several hours, says Lufthansa Cargo. Capacity booking on flights taking off on 31 March or shortly after can be made immediately since LH Cargo accepts reservations made 30 days prior to a flight.

Heiner Siegmund