LH Cargo/DHL In Joint Venture

     DHL and LH Cargo will be parent companies of a new cargo carrier code-named "NewCo", that stands for New Company.
     The highly secret deal up to now with Deutsche Post's express pillar DHL and Lufthansa Cargo under discussion for quite a while will result in the forming of a new cargo carrier on equal terms (50/50).
     Although a number of details still have to be ironed out, what is clear at this point is that from 2009 on "NewCo" shall be operational to deploy a freighter fleet on intercontinental routes on behalf of both parent companies to destinations in the USA, Middle East, the Indian Subcontinent and Fareast.
     According to informal sources up to ten freighters will be either purchased or leased.
     Top on the agenda stands the B777F, followed by the B747-400ERF.
     A third likely option might be the B747-400F.
     Lufthansa has more than 20 passenger jumbo B-400 jets in its fleet some of which are 18 or 19 years of age and therefore, could be converted to freight planes for beginning a second career as cargo transporters.
     NewCo aircraft will be based at Leipzig/Halle airport in East Germany. DHL is presently building a huge sorting center there that will be operational next fall.
     Earlier this week in announcing winter schedules Lufthansa Cargo said it was transferring 21 weekly freighter flights from Cologne to Leipzig come October 28 , in fact discontinuing its freighter flights into and out of Cologne. Consequently, most flights to intercontinental destinations will be shifted step by step from other European sites to the airport in Saxony.
     This intercontinental route joint venture by the way has existed since 2004.
     Ever since that time the number of routes as well as frequencies that LH Cargo and DHL jointly operate and share capacity in has increased.
     Consequently the founding of "NewCo", or whatever branding the PR people ultimately might come up with for the new comer, is a further step in a deepening relation between one of the world’s leading cargo airlines and the number one global express company.
     But stay tuned.
     This will most certainly not be the last move (and news) from this dynamic duo.
Heiner Siegmund