AeroLogic, the joint venture airline of DHL Express and Lufthansa Cargo, will focus onincreasing frequencies on existing routes rather than adding more destinations as it expands its
fleet to eight B777s this year, according to top managers.The airline, based at the DHL Express European air hub at Leipzig, launched operations in June2009 and is currently flying with five B777 freighters. Three more will join the fleet by the endof this year.
With the arrival of the fifth freighter earlier this month, AeroLogic expanded its network byadding twice-weekly flights to Shanghai and Seoul. In May it had opened a new route from Leipzigvia Sharjah to Hong Kong, thus linking the UAE with Asia and Europe.
Under the current schedule, there are seven weekly flights to Hong Kong via the Middle East,five weekly flights to Singapore/Delhi and two to Shanghai/Seoul, as well as two weekendconnections to Chicago and several intra-European flights. In total, the airline is operating 69weekly flights to 12 destinations with the five freighters.
Joint managing director Jörg Eberhardt told international journalists in Leipzig this week thatwith the arrival of the other three planes the airline is “more likely to increase existingfrequencies than add new destinations”. The sixth B777, arriving in August, will be used toincrease flights to Shanghai and Seoul to daily, for example, he said.
Asked about future fleet planning, Charlie Dobbie, DHL Express Executive Vice President NetworkOperations, said three original orders, which would have taken the fleet to 11 B777s, had beencancelled, and the owners would wait to see how business went in 2010 before deciding whether toadd any more planes.
He stressed, however, that the airline has high load factors of more than 80%, which is aboveplan. Despite the heavy use of AeroLogic for Asia-Europe traffic on trunk routes, DHL Expresscontinues to use commercial uplift on other airlines, he stressed. The choice of airline depends onthe service level of the shipment and routing requirements, he explained.
AeroLogic joint managing director Ulf Weber emphasised the competitive advantages of thenewly-built B777 freighters, with a payload of about 104 tonnes and non-stop flying range of 9,045km, compared to the larger B747-400SF, with much shorter flying range and heavier fuel use, and theolder and smaller MD-11 freighter.
AeroLogic currently employs 170 people, including 120 pilots, and staff numbers will rise to200, including 160 pilots, by the end of the year.
