Lufthansa Cargo said it will be adding another Boeing 777F aircraft to its freighter fleet in a bid to increase its capacity offerings.

The German cargo airline said the twin-engine Boeing 777F — considered the most efficient freighter in its class — is scheduled to arrive in Frankfurt by fall 2021 and will be stationed there. 

"This year, we will add another highly efficient Boeing 777F aircraft to our freighter fleet. In doing so, we will also secure jobs in the cockpit and in other areas," said Dorothea von Boxberg, chairperson of the Executive Board and CEO of Lufthansa Cargo.

In addition to the bellyhold capacities of Lufthansa, Austrian Airlines, Brussels Airlines, Eurowings and SunExpress, the cargo airline noted that it will thus provide its customers with the capacity of fourteen modern wide-body freighters in the future.

"Now that we are optimally positioned with one of the world's most modern freighter fleets, we will work with our customers to drive forward the regular use of sustainable fuels," von Boxberg said.

Lufthansa Cargo already became the world's first cargo airline to operate a rotation fully compensated with Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) in November 2020.

Record earnings in 2020

While reporting on its fleet modernisation plans, Lufthansa Cargo also announced that it achieved the best result in its 26-year history last year amid the disruptions brought by the coronavirus pandemic.

The cargo airline said its revenue rose by 11% to 2.76 billion euros, while adjusted EBIT amounted to 772 million euros from the 1 million euros it posted the previous year.

The carrier noted that a  total of 6.5 billion freight ton kilometers, which was lower by 27% were sold last year due to capacity constraints. The average load factor improved by 7.8 percentage points to 69.1%, while cargo capacity shrank by 36%.

"We are pleased to close what was probably the most challenging year in our company's history with a record result. It is also a record in terms of the commitment and flexibility of our workforce — and we are proud of the outstanding cooperation with our long-standing partners and customers," von Boxberg said, adding that this will enable "very decisive investments" in our future.

"We want to make airfreight sustainably better and further strengthen our home base in Frankfurt. That is why we will gradually modernize our cargo center in the coming years and continue to drive forward digitalization along the entire transport chain," she added.

Lufthansa Cargo noted that in an extremely challenging environment for the entire aviation industry, the Lufthansa Group's logistics subsidiary was able to tide the challenges and maintainits global connections with cargo aircraft at all times.

The cargo airline countered the pandemic-related, continuous changes in entry regulations for crews, for example, with extremely flexible network planning.

But in order to compensate, at least in part, for the loss of bellyhold loading capacities largely associated with passenger traffic, Lufthansa Cargo, said together with the Group airlines Lufthansa, Austrian Airlines, Brussels Airlines and Eurowings, made hundreds of flights with passenger aircraft available to its customers solely for the transport of goods (so-called "preighters").