The planned joint cargo airline subsidiary of Deutsche Post and Lufthansa is set for takeofffollowing a green light from German cartel authorities. Details of the new airline will be unveiled
at a top-level ceremony on September 20.The German cartel office said that it has approved an application by the two companies toform a 50-50 joint venture between their subsidiaries DHL and Lufthansa Cargo without anyrestrictions.
Deutsche Post chairman Klaus Zumwinkel and Lufthansa CEO Wolfgang Mayrhuber will presentdetails of their future cooperation at a joint press conference in Frankfurt on Thursday, September20. Neither company has released any further information ahead of the event.
German media have previously reported, however, that the two companies plan to deepen theirexisting cooperation by establishing a joint venture airline to operate intercontinental flights toand from the future DHL European air hub at Leipzig from 2009 onwards.
Under a five-year joint venture agreement that started in 2004, DHL Express has contractedthe bulk of capacity on a number of Lufthansa Cargo-operated MD-11F intercontinental flights fromGermany. In October, 18 of these flights will be relocated from Cologne/Bonn to Leipzig/Halleairport.
Financial daily Handelsblatt reported today (September 18) that the new airline would operateindependently of the main DHL and Lufthansa Cargo fleets, and consist of 11 intercontinentalfreighters, including the seven Lufthansa Cargo MD-11s already committed to the existingpartnership. Four B777 freighters could be added to the fleet in the medium-term, the newspapersaid.
Lufthansa Cargo operates a fleet of 19 MD-11 freighters and also uses several chartered cargoaircraft. DHL Express has no long-haul aircraft of its own and relies on a diverse range ofcommercial agreements and partnerships, including joint ventures, for uplift. But it does haveregional fleets for express services within Europe, the Middle East and Latin America.
