Hong Kong-based Cathay Pacific Cargo said it is relocating its local cargo handling activities in Frankfurt, Germany to Lufthansa Cargo’s terminal as the two airlines announced plans to transport their first joint shipment in February.
The relocation of Cathay Pacific Cargo’s freight handling into the Lufthansa Cargo Center in Frankfurt is a core element of their cooperation agreement that was announced in May 2016.
The merging of the airlines’ freight handling for imports and exports was concluded on January 17, 2017.
As part of the cooperation, both airlines are closely working together on network planning and sales as well as IT and service expansion. The partners plan to transport the first joint shipment on February 1, 2017, initially from Hong Kong to Europe. The ability to also book eastbound shipments from Europe to Hong Kong will then follow in 2018.
The joint activities are carried out in full compliance with all applicable laws, including the competition rules of the European Union and Hong Kong, said Cathay Pacific Cargo.
Cathay Pacific cargo expands
Meanwhile Cathay Pacific and Cathay Dragon’s combined cargo and mail uplifted rose in volume in December 2016 compared to the same month in 2015.
The two airlines carried 174,415 tonnes of cargo and mail last month, an increase of 9.9% compared to December 2015. The cargo and mail load factor rose by 1.6 percentage points to 69.5%. Capacity, measured in available cargo/mail tonne kilometers, was up by 3.6% while cargo and mail revenue tonne kilometers (RTKs) increased by 6.1%.
For 2016 as a whole, tonnage rose by 3.1% against a capacity increase of 0.6% and a 0.8% rise in RTKs.
“The seasonal peak for airfreight carried into December, with exports from Mainland China, Asia and the Americas seeing encouraging year-on-year growth,” said Mark Sutch, Cathay Pacific general manager for cargo sales & marketing.
“Demand from our home market of Hong Kong was also sustained. Overall tonnage grew ahead of capacity, with our load factor improving month-on-month. The demand for perishables, machineries and e-commerce products persisted, while our new freighter services to Portland and Brisbane West Wellcamp have also been well received by the market.”
