Condor flies for DHL Express

DHL Express is further expanding its airlift capacity by chartering four planes from German leisure airline Condor to fly parcels instead of holidaymakers to European destinations.

Under a commercial agreement, Condor will base four of its B767 passenger planes at DHL’s European air hub at Leipzig/Halle Airport and operate flights to Shannon (Ireland), Milan-Malpensa and Cologne, initially until the end of May.

The first cargo flights under the partnership took off this week. The Condor flights would also be available to transport Covid-19 vaccines, according to the two companies.

“Unique cooperation”

“This partnership between cargo and passenger carriers is unique,” said Markus Otto, Senior Vice President Aviation Europe at DHL Express. “It allows us to react even faster and more flexibly to the continued high demand for international express service. The additional capacity through Condor allows us to further improve service quality and transit times, and maintain our growth trajectory.”

For DHL Express, the partnership is part of a program of action measures to expand capacity in the face of growing express volumes worldwide and maintain the company’s growth trajectory. Early in 2021, DHL Express had already announced additional purchases of new wide-body Boeing 777F aircraft.

Condor compensates for tourism collapse

For Condor, the DHL deal enables it to partly compensate for the dramatic collapse in tourism over the past year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, experts noted.  

The Frankfurt-based airline has seen passenger numbers slump as Germans have been forced to holiday at home or not at all. At present, the airline is only operating a fraction of its normal flight schedule, with flights to the Canary Islands, Egypt, Cuba, the Maldives and the Dominican Republic. 

In response, Condor already expanded its freight activities last year by dedicating an increasing number of flights to cargo, transporting primarily medical protective equipment – including millions of face masks, protective suits and gloves – in addition to e-commerce goods.

For this purpose, a portion of Condor’s Boeing 767 fleet has been converted to pure cargo aircraft. For a period, 14 of its 16 767s were being used solely for cargo.

Condor COO Christian Schmitt explained: “We began flying more cargo last year and continued to build on our air freight expertise. And we’re very pleased now to be working together with such an experienced partner in DHL Express.

“The partnership also demonstrates Condor’s ability to adjust to unusual situations and, in this case, to work together with DHL to make an important contribution to maintaining international supply chains.” 

Condor operates a fleet of 50 aircraft and normally flies about 9.4 million passengers from Germany to 90 leisure travel destinations throughout Europe, Africa and the Americas. The airline made a small operating profit of about €57 million on turnover of €1.7 billion in the 2018/19 fiscal year. Results for 2020 have not yet been disclosed.