A joint shipment between Cathay Pacific Cargo and Lufthansa Cargo on 1 February marked a major milestone in the Joint Business Agreement (JBA) between the two carriers, announced in May last year.
The flight, from Hong Kong to Frankfurt, was the first of many and the latest development under the accord that has seen Cathay Pacific Cargo move its Frankfurt operation under the same roof as Lufthansa Cargo, at Frankfurt’s Lufthansa Cargo Center (LCC). Lufthansa Cargo’s Hong Kong freight-handling operation moved to the Cathay Pacific Cargo Terminal in October last year.
Frankfurt is Europe’s busiest air-freight hub and Cathay Pacific Cargo’s move to the facility enables it to capitalise on its state-of-the-art facilities.
Director cargo Simon Large, said: ‘In addition to providing more direct connections and greater flexibility, we can now offer our customers in Frankfurt the same handling standards that will lead to more efficiency and time savings.’
Konstantin Stathopoulos, director sales and handling, South China, Hong Kong and Taiwan for Lufthansa Cargo, was no less enthusiastic: ‘Both the Cathay Pacific and Lufthansa teams are very excited to see the results of all the hard work that has gone into the project,’ he said. ‘It wouldn’t have been possible without the commitment of everyone involved, who have gone out of their way to find solutions to the challenges of working across multiple departments, countries and company cultures. A big thank-you also to our launching agents Jet-Speed, Hellmann, Panalpina and Expeditors, who have not only helped us tremendously during our pilot tests in the past months but also gave us valuable feedback in regards to our new sales approach.’
The agreement seeks to provide a more comprehensive suite of services for customers of both carriers, and capitalises on the extensive international route networks of both. Work is underway on strengthening planning, sales and IT capabilities, with eastbound shipments coming online in 2018.
