Lufthansa Cargo to lose “tens of millions of euros”

KARL Ulrich Garnadt, chairman of Lufthansa Cargo, has told Air Cargo News that the surprise blanket ban on night flights at Frankfurt (Germany) will cost the carrier tens of millions of euros.

Lufthansa is depending on Cologne/Bonn to be a “short-term fix”, Garnadt said, to fly freighters to China. However, aircraft will need to wait for around three hours due to Russian airspace restrictions.

Some flights to North America will depart during the day, disrupting the pattern. “In the short-term we will lose 12 hours on North Atlantic deliveries due to rotational issues over the next two months,” he added.

Cologne/Bonn cannot be a long-term solution, he said. “Realistically slots will be very limited. Whether we can use it in the long term, there is some doubt, as operators there have the entire capacity.”

The move to Cologne/Bonn also means thousands of extra truck movements. “We will need an additional 2.5 million litres of [jet] fuel [flying to and from Cologne] and 1.5 million litres of diesel,” Nils Haupt, director of communications, told Air Cargo News.

Freight forwarders such as DB Schenker, Kuehne + Nagel and Panalpina have expressed their solidarity with Lufthansa Cargo.

Read the full story in Air Cargo News issue 714 on 31 October.

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