Lufthansa and ANA extend cargo JV to outbound Europe routes

Lufthansa Cargo and ANA Cargo’s joint venture will be extended to cover consignments on routes from Europe to Japan as of August 3.
The airlines’ cargo divisions started their joint venture in December 2014, and initially focused on flights from Japan to Europe. The German and Japanese carriers are offering their flights in a shared network on the cooperation routes.
European customers will now have access to the shared network of the two airlines made up of over 90 weekly direct flights between Europe and Japan.
Customers in Germany, France, the UK and Austria will be the first to participate in the partnership, with all other European countries to 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.
Freight is also handled at "numerous stations" in shared warehouses, both in Japan and Europe
Peter Gerber, chairman and chief executive 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.”
Akira Okada, chief executive 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.”