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08/03/2022 12:17
The weekly newspaper for air cargo professionals No. 1,172
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21 MARCH 2022
Ukraine casts shadow over Lufthansa results ...
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INSIDE
New editor for Air Cargo Week
CHALLENGE ACCEPTED!
CHALLENGE GROUP has been undergoing a major rebranding since it embarked on its harmonised restructuring in 2020 ... PAGE 2
CARGO IQ INSPECTS TK ...
With effect from next week’s issue, Air Cargo Week will have a new editor. Taking on the role will be Sally Gethin, already well known in aviation circles as a journalist and commentator. Announcing the appointment Norman Bamford, director of Azura International, the publication’s owner, said “We are delighted to welcome Sally into our business. She will bring a wealth of valuable experience into our editorial team as we expand our wide product portfolio over the coming months. Her career to date has covered editorship of several air transport publications as well as numerous appearances for major television and radio outlets in the United Kingdom and overseas”. Referring to her new position Sally Gethin commented “I am excited to be taking on this task at such an important time for our industry”.
AIR CARGO COMMUNITY COMES TOGETHER TO SUPPORT UKRAINE
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he air cargo community has come together to offer aid and logistics services to those affected by the war in Ukraine. The Kuehne+Nagel Group said in a statement last week that it was “dismayed” by the Russian invasion of Ukraine and has pledged emergency aid of 10 million Swiss francs (£8.2 million). This will be in the form of free logistics services to leading aid organisations for the transport and temporary storage of relief goods to Ukraine as well as Poland, Slovakia, Hungary and Romania until summer 2022. In addition, Kuehne+Nagel employees can make a personal commitment by contributing to the Group’s
‘Colleagues for Colleagues’ fundraising campaign and Kuehne+Nagel will match the amount donated. Air Canada has also operated humanitarian special cargo flights on behalf of Airlink and other aid organisations. A flight departed Toronto Pearson International Airport with a final destination of Warsaw, Poland on Wednesday, March 9. Through a partnership between Air Canada, disaster logistics non-profit Airlink, relief organisation Project C.U.R.E., and freight forwarder Flexport, medical and humanitarian supplies, hospital beds, and other aid was loaded onboard the Air Canada Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner.
TURKISH CARGO has been certified by Cargo iQ, proving the carrier is compliant with the quality standards of the interest group ... PAGE 2
AIR CARGO IN ASIA ...
UNTIL the 19th Century the land, or caravan routes, supplemented by oceangoing vessels, were predominant on trade routes in and out of Asia. PAGE 4
ASIAN E-COMMERCE SURGES ...
The pandemic has accelerated consumers’ shift to digital platforms and created an e-commerce boom,” says James Zhao, general ... PAGE 6
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Turkish Cargo is Cargo Booking platform releases new tools to iQ compliant TURKISH CARGO has been certified by Cargo iQ, proving the carrier is compliant with the quality standards of the interest group. Cargo iQ is an IATA (International Air Transport Association) interest group with the mission of creating and implementing quality standards for the global air cargo industry. As part of the Cargo iQ requirements, all processes are inspected by SGS, an independent inspection company based in Geneva and contracted by IATA. Aspects inspected include conformity of its operational processes, the services it offers to its customers and the quality management in general terms. Turhan Ozen, chief cargo officer of Turkish Airlines, says: “The Cargo iQ certificate is a key milestone that denotes our service quality and operational excellence.”
help forwarders BOOKING platform cargo.one has released new tools which it says will help freight forwarders navigate through turbulent times. The Flight Operating Status dashboard is free to access and provides forwarders with the latest schedule updates so they can quickly keep on
release of its Flight Schedule search extension on its website. Available free to all cargo.one users and powered by data from over 80 global airlines, the tool shows instantly which airline is flying which routes. Users can check flight schedules globally
top of any cancellations or changes to routings or timings. cargo.one says: “We will continually add updates in the upcoming days and weeks as/when airlines announce them. The tool has been live for a few days and had positive feedback from users.” Due to high demand, the digital cargo booking platform has also brought forward the Beta
for any origin and destination pair. The company states: “We know that free rapid access to up-to-date capacity discovery, flight scheduling and flight availability data – all in one source – can be a great help to forwarders, so wanted to share both tools as soon as we could.” cargo.one says it is “constantly improving” its tools to respond to the needs of forwarders.
Challenge accepted! CHALLENGE GROUP has been undergoing a major rebranding since it embarked on its harmonised restructuring in 2020. Headed by CEO, Yossi Shoukroun, the Group incorporates three airlines, CAL Cargo Airlines based in Israel, Challenge Airlines BE based in Belgium, Challenge Airlines MT and Challenge Air Cargo, the commercial arm of the Group, both based in Malta. It also incorporates its own ground handling company in Liege, Belgium called Challenge Handling, as well as its strong European road feeder network out of Liege called Challenge Logistics. Challenge Aviation, an aircraft and parts leasing division and Challenge Technic, a comprehensive line maintenance provider joins, completing the Group. The Group’s cargo airline experience dates back to its CAL Cargo Airlines’ beginnings in 1976, and its handling division (previously known as LACHS) was established in 1997. The other companies were founded over the course of the past six years. Malta-based Challenge Air Cargo is the latest addition and is due to commence operations this year. Of Challenge Group’s business, 65% is non-standard cargo that requires industry-specific handling solutions and many of these have been for outsize freight shipments. The Group is in possession of Europe’s largest
52-tonne high-loader, located in Liege. From temperature-sensitive shipments (the group is IATA CEIV Pharma certified in the air and on the ground), to dangerous goods, all the way through to live animals, Challenge Group says it is “trained, certified, and experienced in handling and flying all kinds of commodities.” Over the last four years, the company has trebled its capacity and now handles 300,000 tonnes of cargo per year, with an ambition to reach half a million tonnes annually by 2023. Today, it counts 850 employees and a fleet of four B747-400F. These will soon be complemented by four 767-300BDSF and four 777-300ERSF conversions over the next two years as Challenge Group follows a 5-year expansion strategy in terms of further fleet growth, exploring new business areas, and continuing to develop its rapidly expanding first and last mile services across Europe and the US. “Air cargo is a people-driven industry, full of down-to-earth, hands-on characters. We identify strongly with this direct, solution-focused approach, and have incorporated company values that precisely reflect this attitude: Passion, Authenticity, Agility. The perfect ingredients for the success of our ‘Challenge Accepted’ promise. We enjoy getting things done!” says Yossi Shoukroun, CEO of Challenge Group.
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DHL and Singapore Airlines ink new agreement DHL EXPRESS has entered into a Crew and Maintenance agreement (CM) with Singapore Airlines (SIA) to deploy five Boeing 777 freighters. DHL Express says the agreement marks a “further step” in its expansion of its intercontinental air network to meet customer demand in fast-growing international express shipping markets. Travis Cobb, executive vice president global network operations and aviation, DHL Express, says: “With the deployment of five Boeing 777 freighters, we can expand our express service linking the Asia Pacific region with the Americas. Following the pandemic, we see good prospects for strong growth in trans-Pacific trade lanes. By collaborating with Singapore Airlines, we see a unique chance to establish a long-lasting relationship with a long-time partner who shares common values and operates at the highest standard.” Based at Singapore’s Changi Airport and serving DHL’s South Asia Hub there, the freighters, which will sport a dual DHL-SIA livery, will be operat-
ed by SIA pilots on routes to the United States of America via points in North Asia. SIA will also oversee the maintenance of these aircraft. The initial agreement is set for more than four years with the opportunity for an extension. As part of the agreement, the first aircraft delivery will be in July 2022, with the second in October 2022. The remaining three aircraft are planned for delivery throughout 2023. Lee Lik Hsin, executive vice president commercial, SIA, says: “Today’s agreement builds on and strengthens the long-standing partnership between SIA and DHL. This new freighter operation will support the fast-growing e-commerce segment, in addition to other key business segments that rely on trusted express services that DHL excels in providing. It also provides a foundation on which the partnership between SIA and DHL can be further expanded in the future. Basing these freighters at Changi Airport will further reinforce Singapore’s position as a key air cargo and e-commerce logistics hub, contributing to its growth and development.”
Don’t lose contact! Air Cargo Week number has changed +44 (0)1737 906107
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NEWS
Record results for DHL but uncertain times lie ahead Deutsche Post DHL Group’s record results for 2021 were scant comfort amid the background of the war in Ukraine, said group chief executive Frank Appel. “We can no longer take peace in Europe for granted,” he declared at a press conference on March 9. He told the gathering that everyone at DHL was clearly shocked by the turn of events and was doing everything they could to support its 400-450 Ukraine-based staff. In answer to a question, he said he did not know how many of the group’s 400-450 employees in Ukraine had returned to their home country or what their fate was. During 2021, DHL did benefit from the e-commerce boom and the global economy’s swift recovery from the Covid crisis. Revenue is a third bigger than it was before Covid in 2019 and, said Appel: the Group “achieved the best performance in the company’s history”. Group revenue rose to €81.7 billion in the 2021 financial year, operating profit hit €8.0 billion – up 65% – and free cash flow almost doubled to €4.1 billion. The board is proposing to increase its dividend to €1.80 per share and has proposed a new €2bn share buyback. Now, the future is very uncertain, and what happens next on the progress of the war and whether the world can avoid a global recession. Appel said that the Ukraine war could hit consumer confidence and
there is already a significant effect on fuel prices, coupled with the need to avoid Russian airspace and hence longer sector times between Europe and Asia. The loss of business in Russia and Ukraine is however limited – the two countries make up less than 1% of the group’s total revenues though the war’s effect on the global economy was clearly of great importance. Appel said DHL’s Express and Global Forwarding arms would be most affected by the increase in fuel prices, with express shipments already subject to a fuel surcharge. DHL is continuing to operate postal and courier services to the Ukraine border with local carriers taking over from there, but business volumes have shrunk. Some shipments, mostly humanitarian supplies such as medicines were also still moving into Russia but the future of DHL’s wholly-owned Russian subsidiary and its 3,500 employees had yet to be decided, he added.
Qatar Airways Cargo takes horse transportation in its stride
QATAR AIRWAYS CARGO reports it has seen a surge in demand for its live animal transportation services amidst a run of horse races in the Middle East. The Amir Sword Festival in Doha took place on February 17-19 and the Saudi Cup in Riyadh took place February 25-26. The Commercial Bank CHI AL SHAQAB presented by Longines in Doha was between February 24-26 and the Longines Global Champions Tour (LGCT) took place in Doha March 3-5. Qatar Airways Cargo says it carried 190 of the world’s fastest racehorses and finest show jumping and dressage horses on its freighters over the past few weeks. The prestigious HH The Amir Sword Festival, hailed as the high point in the Qatar equestrian racing calendar, attracts thoroughbreds and pure Arabian horses from all over the world, in competition to win the USD $4.34 million in prize money. “Every horse transport requires meticulous advance planning and coordination with the customers, the specialised freight forwarders, and the respective airport facilities. We take great pains to ensure that the animals entrusted to our care have as stressfree a journey as possible, naturally in line with all animal transport regulations. Alongside state-of-the-art horse stalls, and seats for the grooms on board our freighters, we also ensure that the distance to the aircraft from the airport animal facility, as well as the waiting times are as short as possible,” Guillaume Halleux, chief officer cargo at Qatar Airways explained. “Racehorses often have a very high value, and they are shipped three to seven days prior to the event in order to be at peak fitness on the race day. We are well versed in dealing with this precious cargo. Horses meanwhile make up around 35% of all our QR Live animal shipments, and we are one of the main horse transportation carriers in the world.”
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Air Cargo in the Asia Pacific region MARK EDWARDS, ACL AIRSHOP’S MANAGING DIRECTOR, ASIA PACIFIC. Until the 19th Century the land, or caravan routes, supplemented by oceangoing vessels, were predominant on trade routes in and out of Asia. In the latter half of that century there was a major shift to seagoing vessels. Rail and road transport continued moving passengers within individual states and for transporting bulk goods over longer distances. In the 20th Century there was considerable development of ports and harbours and with the advent of containerisation, box facilities in the larger ports—which have been linked to their hinterlands by rail and road. Air transport began in earnest in the decades after the Second World War with surplus military aircraft being used to develop the first cargo airlines. Development of air cargo continued in the jet age and most importantly the standardisation of aircraft cargo holds and aircraft cargo
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equipment such as ULDs. Air transport has often proved to be not only the speediest but also the cheapest means of transport, especially for costly items of relatively small weight and bulk. Air transport came to the fore and played a particularly vital role in the recent pandemic, sometimes being the only route for goods to be transported from Asia to markets around the world. In the latter part of the 20th Century and into the 21st Century global economics have reached a point in this age of e-commerce where individuals order goods internationally and expect rapid delivery. Without air transport it would simply be impossible for this type of enterprise to exist - the speed and flexibility of the cargo aircraft enables the market to react quickly and effectively to changing needs. A significant proportion of this trade is produced in and emanates from within Asia. Materiel flows from a manufacturing facility in Asia to Europe the US and beyond, while within
the region there is a huge e-commerce market with inter-regional airfreight increasing in capacity every year. Added to this is the is the growing importance and influence of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and the Regional and Economic Partnership (RCEP) which will without doubt have an impact on future air freight. There already exists a working agreement with an extensive Free Trade Area (FTA) among many of the nations in Southeast Asia allowing cross border trade unencumbered by any significant bureaucracy or processes. The recent pandemic is a classic example of the importance of airfreight. It is no exaggeration to suggest that without air cargo the world would have been at a disadvantage in the fight against Covid. The passenger airlines immediately stopped flying, effectively removing all the belly capacity at a stroke. This left cargo airlines and international consolidators to carry the burden initially and the transport of billions of pieces of PPE, medical equipment and the distribution of vaccines quickly and efficiently have without doubt helped stem the crisis. This pivot in demand has not come without a cost. The demands placed on the industry during the pandemic left many organisations unprepared for the massive increase in activity. As an airfreight equipment supplier, ACL Airshop readily rose to the challenge and was well positioned to meet the needs of all our current customers, as well as many more that knocked at our door for pallets and containers during the initial stages of the crisis. Demands that ACL Airshop were well placed to meet, with our extensive inventory of equipment and presence at 55 airports around the globe. Once the initial surge had settled, we then faced the second wave of demand when global sea freight and shipping became restricted through a number of issues, including shortage of containers, labour shortage and ships stuck in the
Suez Canal. Again, ACL Airshop met this second wave with the same response as the first and kept our customers supplied with all the pallets and containers necessary to keep air freight moving. What does the future hold? We at ACL Airshop see the current high demand for our containers, pallets, nets and straps continuing throughout 2022 due to the continued absence of passenger airline belly capacity and the continuing issues with sea freight. Based on our extensive industry knowledge and many years of expertise we do not see the market approaching anything like normality until at least fourth quarter of 2022 or even the first quarter of 2023 - and even this assumes that nothing else happens to disrupt the market significantly. The current situation in Ukraine is yet to affect the industry and remains a “black swan” event with unknown and unpredictable consequences. We are well resourced and well placed to meet the current elevated demand for our services and equipment and we are well placed to meet any increase in demand. We are currently expecting an increase of about 14% growth over the preCovid figures in 2019. We have spoken to our customers to gauge the demand for this coming year and somewhat predictably they cannot predict their demands with any degree of accuracy! So, our watchword at ACL Airshop is flexibility. We will continue to demonstrate our adaptability in these fast moving and challenging times meeting the needs of all our current and future customers at any of our 55 airport locations to keep the global air freight business moving.
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EAST ASIA CARGO
E-COMMERCE DEMAND A “POSITIVE SIGN” FOR ASIAN AIRFREIGHT
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The pandemic has accelerated consumers’ shift to digital platforms and created an e-commerce boom,” says James Zhao, general manager, global supply chain at Cainiao, the official logistics partner of Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group. “We are witnessing a phenomenal rise in cross-border trade and parcel volume, leading to more robust market for global cargo transportation business.” he says. Zhao highlights that this is a “positive sign” for the recovery of the whole cargo industry and he is “optimistic” about the market in East Asia, especially as the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) trade agreement, which came into effect this year, has strengthened relations. “Also, from our observation, China’s free trade zone at Hainan and Hong Kong Special Administrative Region will continue to serve as pivotal ports for imports and exports in the region. “In Japan, ahead of the 11.11 Global Shopping Festival last year, we saw close to 10 million goods pre-stocked in Cainiao’s bonded warehouses in China - a surge of 286% compared to the year before. “Demonstrating the surge in consumer demand, 198 flights and 68 ships were deployed to facilitate pre-stocking of goods from various key cities in Japan through its first-mile logistics services.” To deal with the e-commerce surge in the region, Zhao says Cainiao has launched more air routes and increased operation frequencies by deepening its collaboration with shipper and airline partners around the world. “Cainiao has over 280 flights a month from China to its global destinations, an increase of over 15% from a year ago,” he notes. According to Zhao, the capacity constraints affecting the industry have presented Cainiao with new opportunities. He says: “The lack of air cargo capacity pushed cross-border companies and global brands to look for new shipping opportunities, thus giving Cainiao a chance to
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serve more merchants. “For instance, last November Cainiao launched an air route linking Liege, Belgium and Wuhan, China in light of scarce air capacity between China and Europe, helping European brands to store goods in China ahead of the 11.11 Global Shopping Festival.” As the e-commerce sector grows, Zhao says Cainiao is putting down the foundations to realise the relatively untapped market potential of Latin America. “From Cainiao’s perspective, Latin America, namely Brazil, Chile and Mexico, and the Middle East and South East Asia have huge potential for e-commerce. “In this regard, we have been adapting ourselves through partnerships, investments and logistics infrastructure building in those overseas markets,” he says. This month, Cainiao and Qatar Airways Cargo announced the launch of their weekly charter service linking China and Brazil. “In Southeast Asia, we have recently announced the expansion of our warehouse network to support B2B and B2C businesses. Known as cHubs, these warehouses will be set up in countries such as Vietnam, Singapore, Indonesia and Malaysia, and span a total land area of over 2.5 million sq m, with the purpose of serving as an innovative supply chain infrastructure to support businesses in their local distribution, supply chain and export needs,” Zhao explains. Going forward, Zhao anticipates that supply chain strategies for businesses will continue to pivot and evolve to cope with external disruptions. “This could mean that more warehousing resources would be required as inventory management strategy shift to focus on pre-stocking of goods or materials to buffer against shortages or shipping disruptions. “Current disruptions are unlikely to disappear overnight, but can be tackled by creating a flexible, resilient and balanced supply chain network worldwide.”
FEATURE
Investment in cargo infrastructure needed to cope with demand
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he Asia-Pacific region generates about a third of global air cargo carryings according to IATA figures, and South-East Asia is one of the regions with the biggest growth in the world. Adrian Loretz, chief operating officer at Teleport, the logistics arm of Capital A (formerly AirAsia), is confident that the market in Asia will continue to grow and do well when it comes to air cargo. He says: “Teleport is uniquely positioned to profit from the growth in the region as we have airlines in Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia and Philippines.” Although the East Asia market is on track for strong growth, it is not without its challenges as Loretz notes: “This shortage of capacity will ease over the coming months. However, we expect that challenges around Covid and recovery of passenger services will lead to a structural deficit on capacity within the region for a long time. “Other issues are infrastructure and regulatory challenges. To
cope with the demand for the coming 5-10 years, significant investments in infrastructure are needed to ensure the airports are able to cope with the additional cargo volumes. “Likewise, we have seen a lot of challenges on the regulatory side and would welcome an effort across ASEAN countries and beyond to simplify processes to make air cargo an efficient and seamless product, especially for new e-commerce customers who operate a different model from the traditional freight forwarders,” Loretz suggests. “With the rise in demand for air cargo, there have definitely been constraints in balancing capacity and we do expect to see these constraints continuing with the recent Omicron wave. “Also, the recent challenges for trucks crossing to Hong Kong from China have had a temporary effect on our flights; however we are dealing with the challenge and are working on alternatives for our customers.” Loretz says Teleport is prepared to handle high demand by using its dedicated freighter. “We have added more capacity to
carry cargo and AirAsia is backing us up with their fleet. With preighters, trusted ground handlers and great partners, we are ready to deal with what is to come. “Recovery takes time but we are definitely optimistic for what the future holds for Teleport. “
East Asian pharma market vital for the world
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uring the pandemic, maintaining trade lanes between manufacturing and pharmaceutical hubs in Asia to the rest of the world proved vital to global public health. A worldwide shortage in the early months of the pandemic saw the Asian manufacturing sector make a shift from producing garments to PPE. China was already the largest PPE exporter before the pandemic, providing almost half the world supply of facemasks, protective gowns, gloves and goggles in 2018. The East Asian pharmaceutical market has also boomed these past two years. Tarik Parlak, vice president of East Asia at Turkish Cargo says demand for pharma transportation from the region is high. He explains: “In 2021, Turkish Cargo carried a total of more than 55,000 tonnes of pharmaceutical shipments. “For the Asia Pacific (APAC) region, we recorded a remarkable revenue increase of over 200% year-on-year comparison, whilst almost doubling the increase of tonnage. “Turkish Cargo has created a pharma corridor between over 300 stations, carrying out our operations at the top level, and obtaining IATA CEIV Pharma certification.” For the Asia Pacific region, the carrier transported approximately 22,000 tonnes of Covid-19 related shipments, mostly from China and Korea to Turkey, North Africa, Asia and South America. Parlak says: “There are three main types of products including, but not limited to: human vaccines, reagent test kits, biosimilar, blood products and oxygen generators. “Strategically located between continents, Turkish Cargo’s İstanbul hub provides rapid connection between pharmaceutical producers in Asia and consumers around the globe. The rapid and efficient delivery of innovative treatments throughout the Covid-19 pandemic has demonstrated the value of collaborations within the pharma logistics industry, Parlak believes. He says: “If we look at the whole picture, the biggest challenge during the pandemic was to keep on striving to meet high demand for Covid-19 treatments, while also continuing research and development of new vaccines and delivery to the final destination promptly. “I believe it resulted in a greater enthusiasm among the whole pharmaceutical supply chain for development, manufacturing and logistics to collaborate harder and act against the Covid-19 related challenges together.”
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VIEW FROM THE MAINDECK
UKRAINE CASTS A SHADOW OVER RECORD LUFTHANSA RESULTS
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ufthansa Cargo’s press conference on March 4 announcing record financial results for the second year in a row should have been a cause for celebration, but it took place against the background of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The freight arm of the German national carrier has four employees in Ukraine itself, said executive board chair and CEO, Dorothea von Boxberg. They had all been offered help to leave but had chosen to stay in the country and now contact with them had been lost, she said. “Naturally, we are very concerned,” she told the gathering. Lufthansa Cargo is meanwhile doing whatever it can to help Ukraine. It is making its road feeder services from Frankfurt available free of charge for relief goods to nearby hubs such as Katowice or into Polish Government warehouses, a move that had been welcomed by German aid groups. “It’s a small step,” Boxberg admitted, “but it does show how we feel about it.” Under the circumstances, it seemed almost frivolous to talk about last year’s financial results which occurred in a time which, though a difficult one due to Covid and capacity shortages, was at least peaceful. For the record, Lufthansa Cargo’s revenue rose to €3.80 billion compared with €2.76 billion in the previous year. Adjusted earnings before interest and tax was €1,493 million (previous year: €772 million). A total of 7.2 billion freight tonne kilometres were sold last year compared with 6.5bn in the previous year while average load factor improved by 1.7 percentage points year-onyear to 71.0%, while capacity increased by 8.7% to 10.1 billion
freight tonne kilometers. Putin’s War will inevitably affect the airfreight industry for the rest of 2022, though how much and which ways is unclear. The immediate practical effect will be a 10% reduction in total market capacity on Europe/Asia routes owing to a cessation of overflying Russia, which will cut in payloads and add to sector times, together with the removal of Russian carriers from the market. Middle East carriers are not however banned from Russian airspace so might be relatively unaffected. Lufthansa’s own capacity on the affected routes could also be cut by around 10%, said Boxberg. However, the overall picture is unclear: Asian carriers that have been concentrating their efforts on the Transpacific might be tempted to deploy aircraft on Asia/Europe which could further affect things. Having to avoid Russia will be mainly a capacity issue as sectors will out of necessity be longer. However, the estimated 1-1½ flight time in itself shouldn’t affect shippers too much, said Boxberg. Up until the end of February, things had been going pretty well, said Boxberg. Bellyhold capacity, which had been slashed by two thirds over the Covid pandemic, had now recovered to around half its previous level. Yields has increased while Lufthansa had also worked on its cost base by reducing headcount and standardising its freighter fleet on 777Fs. The move to 100% electronic airwaybills was also expected to bring dividends. Continued disruption to ocean shipping is still expected to push more business into the air and, despite the huge difficulties that staff in China were facing, including repeated Covid isola-
tions, there appeared to be no stopping e-commerce exports from that country to Europe. The US was also restocking inventories while German exports worldwide were also doing well, said Boxberg. The year ahead may be uncertain, but Lufthansa Cargo would continue to maintain business as usual, she said, including making improvements to its online booking interface, connecting to more electronic platforms and generally making the customer experience smoother and easier. Green efforts like ‘sharkskin’ coatings for aircraft, lightweight cargo equipment and sustainable aviation fuel would likewise be pursued. Another major positive development was the launch of a new short-to-medium haul freighter network on March 15. Aiming to tap into an e-commerce market currently dominated by the integrators, a converted A321F operated by Lufthansa’s CityLine arm will initially link Frankfurt with Istanbul, Dublin, Manchester, Malta and Tel Aviv, with Cairo joining the network on March 29. Having CityLine run the short haul freighters had two-fold advantages, Boxberg said. It helped keep otherwise underemployed crew busy and it also avoided Lufthansa Cargo having to add another aircraft type to its fleet. Boxberg told the conference that as additional aircraft joined the fleet, the network could be expanded further – particularly on the longer hauls such as Scandinavia to Spain – and charter business could also be developed. Who knows, if world events had transpired differently, Ukraine or Russia might well have figured in the short haul network?
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