A SEAT Arona was shipped from Cologne to southern Africa on behalf of the IQS Group.
Lufthansa Cargo recently carried out the first commercial transport of a vehicle from Cologne to southern Africa on board an Airbus 330 Eurowings passenger aircraft on behalf of the specialist logistics company IQS Group. In the future, automotive customers will benefit from an expanded network and higher cost efficiency due to the reduced space requirement for loading.
While cars that fit on an aircraft pallet can be loaded into passenger aircraft in the normal way, larger vehicles have to be transported with a freighter. Lufthansa Cargo and its partner Aircargo Consulting have therefore developed a special process that now makes it possible to transport even larger vehicles in the bellies of Eurowings.
“This was preceded by several meetings with all parties involved, subsequent process descriptions and an operational risk analysis”, explains Joachim Binte, Director Sales and Handling at Lufthansa Cargo in Cologne. “We have started with destinations in southern Africa and are planning to expand to other Eurowings destinations”, Binte continues.
Together with the loading specialists of Aircargo Consulting, a perfect team was formed. “With our expertise and the loading techniques we have developed, including the construction of a loading simulator, we ensure that the needs of our customers are met in the best possible way”, emphasizes Matthias Pfeilschifter, Commercial Director of Aircargo Consulting.
About Lufthansa Cargo AG
Lufthansa Cargo ranks among the world’s leading air freight carriers. In the 2016 business year, the airline transported around 1.6 million tonnes of freight and mail and sold 8.4 billion revenue tonne-kilometres. The company currently employs about 4,500 people worldwide. Lufthansa Cargo focuses on the airport-to-airport business. The cargo carrier serves around 300 destinations in more than 100 countries with its own fleet of freighters, the belly capacities of passenger aircraft operated by Lufthansa, Austrian Airlines and Eurowings, and an extensive road feeder service network. The bulk of the cargo business is routed through Frankfurt Airport. Lufthansa Cargo is a wholly owned Lufthansa subsidiary of Deutsche Lufthansa AG.
