Lufthansa Cargo increases China freighter flights

Lufthansa Cargo is adding more freighter flights to China and expanding its Airbus A321 freighter network on short- and medium-haul routes.

Lufthansa Cargo’s current 2023 summer flight schedule includes a total of 79 weekly intercontinental connections. All long-haul destinations will be served from the international hub in Frankfurt by a total of 16 Boeing B777F aircraft.

In particular, the route network will be expanded to include more flights to China: In the future, Lufthansa Cargo will offer a total of ten freighter flights per week to Shanghai.

On two of these Shanghai connections, Lufthansa Cargo will also fly to Chengdu, doubling its capacity there.

In addition, the number of weekly flights to Hong Kong will increase from five to six, including one stop in Almaty. This destination in Kazakhstan was last part of the route network in 2019 and will now be resumed.

The combined service from Frankfurt via Mumbai to Hyderabad will also be increased to two flights per week.

Lufthansa Cargo will continue to offer its B777F rotations to destinations in North and South America and on the route to Tel Aviv in combination with Cairo in the summer flight schedule.

On short and medium-haul routes, Lufthansa Cargo continues to offer more than 50 weekly connections, using two A321F aircraft. By the end of July, the A321F fleet will grow to four aircraft.

Related adjustments and extensions to the flight schedule on short- and medium-haul routes are currently still being planned.

“Looking at the Chinese market in particular, we are seeing an upturn in economic activity and thus also an increasing demand for a reliable and quality transport solutions by airfreight for sensitive and high value goods,” said Ashwin Bhat, Lufthansa Cargo’s chief commercial officer.

“Accordingly, we have specifically adapted the flight schedule to meet the demands of our customers. The extensive capacity of our fleet gives us more flexibility on intercontinental routes as well as in the short- and medium-haul network.”

The summer flight schedule comes into effect on March 26.

In addition to its freighter offering, Lufthansa Cargo also markets the additional load capacities of some Lufthansa Group airlines, which are growing with the resumption and frequency expansion of numerous passenger connections and represent almost half of Lufthansa Cargo’s capacity.

In the 2023 summer flight schedule, cargo will be regularly transported on more than 7,000 flights a week operated by Lufthansa, Austrian Airlines, Brussels Airlines, Eurowings Discover and SunExpress.