Deutsche Post World Net and Deutsche Lufthansa AG are founding a joint cargo airline through theirsubsidiaries DHL Express and Lufthansa Cargo.
The new company, based in Leipzig, in which DHL Express and Lufthansa Cargo each hold a 50per-cent stake, will have the legal form of a private limited company (GmbH).
It will focus on transporting airfreight and express shipments into and out of Asia. Flightoperations are scheduled to begin in April 2009. With the launch of the new cargo airline, the twopartners aim to strenghten their position in the airfreight, respectively, the express business.
Dr. Klaus Zumwinkel, Chairman Deutsche Post World Net and CEO said: “This is an ongoingdevelopment consistent with our intercontinental joint venture which we began in 2004. DeutschePost World Net and Lufthansa, two of the world’s most successful and professional logisticsoperators are pooling their know-how in a new joint company. DHL will notably accelerate forcustomers the exchange of goods between Asia and Europe through market-leading transit times. Thatwill also substantially strengthen Germany’s position as a logistics base and additionally spur theeconomic upturn in our Country.”
Wolfgang Mayrhuber, Lufthansa Chairman and CEO: “With the new cargo carrier, Lufthansa andDeutsche Post World Net are building consistently on years of highly successful business relations.The new company will not only strengthen Germany as an economic base but will also createadditional, highly qualified jobs in the Leipzig region. Not least, our customers will profit fromfurther improvements in the route network.”
The new cargo carrier will initially operate with eleven new Boeing 777-200LRF aircraft. Theaircraft will be leased and are scheduled for delivery from February 2009. The cargo capacities ofthe new airline will be utilised by Lufthansa Cargo und DHL Express. The two partners will continueto take care of marketing and handling those capacities independently.
Pending the granting of traffic rights, the new airline will gradually expand its routenetwork from the summer schedule 2009. On weekdays, it will be serving Singapore, Bangkok, Dubai,Bombay, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Seoul, Nagoya, Almaty, East Midlands and Milan. At weekends, it willfly to Shanghai, Astana, Singapore, Bangkok, Sharjah, Hong Kong, Chicago and New York.
Aside from pure airfreight traffic, the two companies will each alone be responsible forwarehousing and trans-shipment at Leipzig/Halle Airport. DHL Express will handle its expressshipments in the newly built cargo centre. Lufthansa Cargo will shortly be building its own modernlogistics centre right nearby.
Carsten Spohr, Chairman Lufthansa Cargo AG: “Joint utilisation of aircraft capacities willenable us to harness growth opportunities cost-efficiently. DHL will be commercially responsiblefor operating the express network with additional cargo from Lufthansa Cargo on weekdays. Flightschedules at weekends will suit the customer requirements of Lufthansa Cargo with onload freight onthose flights from DHL.”
Charles Graham, Chief Executive Officer Aviation DHL Express, added: “With the new jointcompany, we will further improve express service between Europe and the Asia growth markets. We arethereby augmenting our global air network strategy. Our customers will profit from more capacities,better transit times and higher quality all-round.”
Management of the new airline will be taken over by Dr. Thomas Papke, formerly LufthansaCargo, and Thomas Pusch, previously at DHL. The name of the new company and its branding will bedecided at a later date.
