Lufthansa Cargo said it had added Taipei in Taiwan as part of its global route network for the first time while announcing increased flight offerings to Asia, Africa and Mexico.
In a statement, Lufthansa Cargo revealed its 2023/2024 winter flight schedule — available for booking from October 8 and coming into effect on October 29 — offering expanded capacity in the international route network with 83 weekly connections.
It said that these result from frequency increases to destinations in high demand as well as the addition of new destinations.
Lufthansa noted that its Boeing 777 freighter fleet will also comprise a total of 17 aircraft, with the addition of a new freighter in service by the end of the year.
In the statement, the freight carrier said to Tel Aviv (TLV) and Cairo (CAI) Lufthansa Cargo will operate three weekly B777 freighter services from October.
Towards Asia, the frequency to Hong Kong (HKG) will be increased from six to seven weekly flights by routing via Mumbai (BOM).
With the combined connection from Frankfurt via Riyadh (RUH) to Taipei (TPE), Lufthansa Cargo is adding two new freighter destinations to its current flight schedule in November, serving them twice a week.
"Taipei will become part of the global route network for the first time," Lufthansa Cargo said.
It added that, meanwhile, Riyadh has already been served by Lufthansa Cargo until 2020.
Due to steady demand, Lufthansa Cargo said it has also increased the number of weekly connections to Mexico City (NLU) from six to a total of seven weekly freighter rotations in this year's winter flight schedule.
In July, all freighter flights were transferred to Felipe Ángeles International Airport (NLU), and numerous infrastructure measures were created, including truck shuttle services, to ensure the fast and reliable transfer of shipments between the now passenger-only Mexico City (MEX) airport and Felipe Ángeles (NLU) as a cargo airport.
Asia, Mexico demand "remains attractive"
Lufthansa Cargo is also maintaining its proven weekly routings to eight destinations in the US and Canada and six destinations in South America.
It added that the planned entry into service of a fourth Airbus A321 freighter in the course of September will soon result in further expansions in Lufthansa Cargo's short- and medium-haul segment, thus ideally rounding off its global offering.
"The market for airfreight is and remains volatile, but Asia and Mexico continue to be attractive, economically strong regions for us," said Ashwin Bhat, CEO of Lufthansa Cargo.
"The additional capacity of our 17th Boeing 777F in our long-haul fleet offers opportunities to specifically adapt the flight offering to the needs of our customers in these markets," he added.
In addition to its freighter offering, Lufthansa Cargo said it also markets the ancillary cargo capacity of more than 6,000 flights a week operated by Lufthansa, Austrian Airlines, Brussels Airlines, Discover Airlines and SunExpress.