Lufthansa, ANA to launch joint Europe-Asia service

by Payload Asia

Lufthansa Cargo and All Nippon Airways Cargo will launch joint freight services from Europe to Japan on August 3, eight months after they joined forces on the westbound route.

Both airlines are expanding their joint venture for freight consignments to routes from Europe to Japan. This means that European customers also have access to the shared network of the two airlines made up of over 90 weekly direct flights between Europe and Japan.

Akira Okada, CEO of ANA Cargo, said: “The cooperation has paid off even within the first few months. Starting to send consignments from Europe to Japan is an important milestone to provide an attractive service to an extended circle of customers.”

First customers in Germany, France, United Kingdom and Austria will participate in the partnership. All other European countries will follow step by step. Lufthansa Cargo and ANA Cargo flights currently connect Frankfurt, Munich, Düsseldorf, London Heathrow, Paris Charles-de-Gaulle and Vienna with Tokyo Narita, Tokyo Haneda, Nagoya and Osaka.

Lufthansa Cargo and ANA Cargo started the first freight joint venture last December and initially focused on flights from Japan to Europe. Both partners are offering their flights in a shared network on the cooperation routes. Freight is also handled at numerous stations in shared warehouses both in Japan and Europe.

Peter Gerber, chairman and CEO of Lufthansa Cargo, said: “Our customers save valuable time thanks to the large numbers of additional direct connections and rapid transit times. Demand has been consistently high since the partnership began. By the end of April, more than 800 additional consignments had been carried with a total volume of around 940 tonnes.”

In 2014, ANA reorganised its freight operations by founding subsidiary ANA Cargo. The company, which employs around 950 employees, is expanding with its currently 10 B767 freighters from its airfreight hub in Okinawa. The carrier also has access to freight capacity of 132 large volume and 93 small volume passenger aircraft belonging to ANA.