The new joint airline of DHL Express and Lufthansa will take off next year under the name ‘AeroLogic’, it was announced today. The carrier will launch in 2009 with four B777-200 long-range
freighters and quickly build up a fleet of 11 B777-200LRFs by 2012. Some 200 pilots are beingsought.The name and grey and yellow branding were unveiled by Charles Graham, Chief Executive OfficerDHL Aviation, and Carsten Spohr, CEO and Chairman of Lufthansa Cargo AG, at an event in Frankfurt.DHL Express and Lufthansa Cargo each have a 50% stake in AeroLogic, which will be based atLeipzig/Halle Airport.
Speaking at the launch, Spohr commented: “The name AeroLogic is perfectly suited to theaspirations and objectives we have set for the carrier. It is the culmination of a successfulpartnership that has existed for many years between DHL Express and Lufthansa Cargo. The neutralbrand symbolises our offer of competent and competitive transport services right across the aircargo sector.”
Charles Graham expressed great satisfaction with the speed in which the airline was developedand prepared for launch. “The successful completion of the leasing agreement for the first eightBoeing 777-200LRFs marks an important milestone,” he said. “We wanted the 777 model because itfulfils our stringent requirements for top quality performance and environmental efficiency.”
The first four aircraft are scheduled for delivery in 2009. “That will enable us to graduallybuild up AeroLogic’s route network. Four more freighters will follow in 2010, a further two in2011. And we plan to add a reserve aircraft to the fleet in 2012,” Graham said.
Both managers said they were confident that the new venture would benefit from the continuedgrowth in transcontinental traffic. On weekdays, AeroLogic will carry mostly DHL Express shipmentsand will operate between the new DHL Express European air hub at Leipzig and destinations in Asia,as well as serving East Midlands and Milan. Weekend flights will carry Lufthansa Cargo freight onEurope-Asia and Europe-US services.
AeroLogic was set up as a cooperation between the two companies in 2004 and currently has about20 employees. In all, AeroLogic is expected to generate about 250 new jobs, roughly 200 of whichwill be for cockpit crew. AeroLogic has also recruited an enlarged management team to run theairline under joint Managing Directors Thomas Papke (formerly Lufthansa Cargo) and Thomas Pusch(formerly DHL Express)
“We have created a strong and experienced management team to help us face the challenges ofrunning an air cargo carrier and achieve our goal of ranking among the top five cargo carriers inEurope,” Papke said. “We are looking for around 200 pilots and we can offer them an extremelyattractive working environment with competitive conditions and the opportunity to fly a routenetwork which, in addition to the major Asian cities, includes exciting destinations across NorthAmerica,” added Pusch.
