The carrier has doubled its weekly cargo capacity to and from Vietnam by adding Hanoi to its network. The bi-weekly services complement the flights to Ho Chi Minh City, operated twice a week as well. Thanks to the additional capacity offered to the market, the airline expects to capture a substantial share of cargo traffic transported both ways between Vietnam and Europa.
The flights are operated by Boeing 777F belonging to freight carrier AeroLogic, a DHL Express and Lufthansa Cargo joint venture (50/50%). While AeroLogic is responsible for all operational issues
including the deployment of pilots, Lufthansa Cargo bears the commercial risk of the air services. But this is very manageable, because the flights, which have been operated since the beginning
of November, are extremely well booked, as voices from AeroLogic confirm. "And provided the case that Lufthansa Cargo does not claim the full transport capacity for its own shipments, DHL
immediately steps in and fills the freighters up,” CargoForwarder Global was told.
Gaining a strong foothold in the local cargo market
Currently, AeroLogic operates a uniform fleet of 21 Boeing 777 freighter aircraft, four of which belong to stakeholder Lufthansa Cargo and are used exclusively by the latter. This corresponds to
the tonnage share agreed between the two JV partners of 80% (DHL Express) and 20% (Lufthansa Cargo).
Thanks to the new flights, Lufthansa Cargo strengthens its presence in the regional market. Many airlines are currently eager to add the country to their route map since Vietnam is a rising
economic star, benefitting from decoupling trends affecting China but most of all by the upswing of its own economy. Industrial growth takes place mainly in the two largest agglomerations:
Ho-Chi-Minh City in the South and Hanoi, the country’s capital, in the north. Electronics, automotive parts and clothing are among the most frequently flown goods ex Hanoi. “With additional
main deck capacity to Europe, Lufthansa Cargo offers customers attractive transport solutions with its freighter connections and supports Hanoi in its further development as a cargo hub,”
states the carrier in a release. The total of four weekly freighter flights to and from Vietnam leads to a regular cargo capacity of 250 tons per week.
Bright outlook for growth
According to the Index of Industrial Production published by Hanoi’s Statistic Office, the sector grew 8.3% during the first eight months of this year, versus a 6.3% rate recorded for the same
period last year. The positive performance of the local economy in and around the Vietnamese capital has also been reflected in the recovery of trade, services, and tourism activities. The bright
outlook for growth has also caught the attention of foreign investors, as the city attracted over $992 million of Foreign direct Investment (FDI) commitments during the first eight months of
2022, up 49.6% year-on-year. These included 226 fresh projects with registered capital of $141.3 million, up 19.4%, reports the Hanoi Times. Simultaneously, the city’s administration issued
business licenses for over 20,000 newcomers with registered capital of staggering US$9.6 billion, up 22% in the number of enterprises and 2% in value.
Knitting the Asian network tighter
Lufthansa Cargo serves Ho-Chi-Minh City already since 2015. “With our station opening in Hanoi in the north of the country and thus in an advantageous location to the economic highway to
North and Southeast Asia, we are ideally supplementing our transport offering for our customers with another direct connection to Frankfurt and thus also to our European and global network. Our
network is growing with frequencies and destinations to highly demanded routes, including Hanoi, Seoul, and Hong Kong,” stated Ashwin Bhat, Chief Commercial Officer at Lufthansa Cargo on the
occasion of the first cargo flight to Hanoi on 02NOV22 which stopped over in Mumbai and landed in the Vietnamese capital’s Airport Nội Bài a day after.
Heiner Siegmund
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