Following on from the charter agreement between Lufthansa Cargo and EgeTrans Internationale Spedition GmbH, which has been in place since winter 2020, the cargo carrier announced that more than 100 "preighters" flights have now been carried out for the transport company.
The air cargo airline said Airbus A340 and Airbus A350 of Lufthansa Passage have been used exclusively for this EgeTrans service.
Lufthansa noted that the flights serve the route from Frankfurt to Chicago, carrying an average of around 37 tons of freight per flight. On board, the aircraft are consignments for agricultural machinery and for the automotive, commercial vehicle, and hydraulics industries, which can be transported from Baden-Württemberg to the US in the fastest way possible.
It added that at peak times, up to five preighters flew weekly in the summer of 2021 alone, including roundtrips.
"Organizing such preighter turnarounds requires precise coordination with our customers, but also with all parties involved, such as Lufthansa Cargo, Lufthansa Passage, and Lufthansa Technik. We are proud to have established such a reliable and resilient process chain for the respective freight requirements in these special times," said Achim Martinka, vice president of Germany of Lufthansa Cargo, adding that in the future, Lufthansa Cargo will continue to focus on using and offering synergies and capacities for its customers.
"The communication with the Lufthansa Cargo contacts works flawlessly and always to our complete satisfaction. We are proud that the close cooperation with the Lufthansa Cargo Team Stuttgart is not exclusively limited to the freighters, but that we also have cargo capacities available three times a week on both freighters and passenger aircraft bound for Chicago at Lufthansa Cargo," commented Florian Naujocks, Air Cargo Manager at EgeTrans.
Against the backdrop of lower ancillary loading capacities in passenger aircraft, Lufthansa Cargo has since 2020 regularly enabled freight-only transports in passenger aircraft, some of which have been specially converted for this purpose, which could not often be used in the usual scheduled service due to the pandemic.
"Preighter" flights during the pandemic
Lufthansa Cargo said since March 2020, it has operated numerous preighter flights worldwide, thus repeatedly demonstrating the importance of fast and reliable transport by air.
"In this way, it is making an important contribution by supplying businesses worldwide with essential goods even in times of pandemic, enabling them to continue production and maintain supply chains," the cargo airline said, adding that the transport of urgently needed goods, including medicines or medical equipment, could also be ensured in this way.
