Leipzig elevated to hub status for Lufthansa

Lufthansa Cargo will discontinue freighter flights into and out of Cologne from October and transfer flights to Leipzig to coincide with the opening of the DHL Express Europe hub.

DHL Express and Lufthansa Cargo have been jointly operating a route network between Europe, Asia and the USA with their Aerologic intercontinental joint venture since March 2004. Up to 27 October 2007, a major proportion of that network will still be run through Cologne, but then be re-routed through Leipzig from 28 October. Lufthansa will be operating 21 MD-11s flights a week to Leipzig.

There will be no change in the other joint-venture flights:
Brussels – New York – Brussels (five flights weekly)
Frankfurt – East Midlands – Wilmington/Ohio – East Midlands – Frankfurt (once weekly)
East Midlands – Wilmington/Ohio – East Midlands (once weekly)
Additionally, Lufthansa will operate three of its own freighter flights from Leipzig to Atlanta (USA), the Korean capital Seoul and the Turkish capital Istanbul.

Cologne will remain a DHL and Lufthansa Cargo base, but Lufthansa will only be offering capacity ex Cologne in future for cargo carried in the bellies of passenger aircraft or by road feeder services. As a result of the switch to Leipzig, 35 staff will be withdrawn from cargo handling in Cologne and offered posts at other locations.

In 2008, Leipzig is scheduled to become the DHL Express central hub in its European express network.