Air New Zealand and Lufthansa to start joint transatlantic freighter operations
Star Alliance partners Air New Zealand and Lufthansa Cargo, the German carrier, are planning to launch joint freighter operations across the Atlantic at the end of March, with one flight going on from the USA to Australasia.
The two carriers intend to operate a total of three freighter services a week from Frankfurt, Germany, to New York and Chicago, US, with one flight continuing on to Auckland, New Zealand and Melbourne, Australia. It will return to Germany via Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia or Pakistan. The New Zealand carrier will use all the capacity on the transpacific leg of that flight, while Lufthansa takes the lion’s share of the transatlantic sector of the operation.
The planned launch of the joint venture all-cargo services, which will be operated by Lufthansa using MD-11 freighters, will coincide with Air New Zealand’s intended scrapping of passenger flights to Frankfurt in late March.
Peter Burn, Air New Zealand’s regional cargo director for North America and Europe, says the carrier will retain its cargo sales office in Germany. The joint operation with Lufthansa may lead to a reduction in the airline’s space-sharing agreement with US carrier Polar Air Cargo across the Pacific, he adds, but will not bring that partnership to an end.
