Lufthansa Cargo will expand its regional freighter network in July with the addition of flights from Munich Airport for the first time.
The German cargo carrier said the flights will start on July 6, utilising its Airbus A321 freighters to connect Munich with Istanbul twice a week.
Customers can already start booking flights on the service which will operate on Saturdays and Sundays with the flight numbers LH8350/LH8351 and LH8346/LH8347.
Lufthansa Cargo chief executive Ashwin Baht said: "For our southern German customers in particular, Munich Airport offers ideal conditions for the fast and reliable transportation of airfreight, which ultimately also enables global business from another important European airport.
"With the launch of our cargo operations out of Munich, we are laying the foundation for aligning our network even more closely with the needs of our customers in the future and continuing to manage it flexibly."
Jost Lammers, chief executive of Flughafen München, added: "The launch of regular cargo flights to Istanbul by Lufthansa Cargo is very good news for the Bavarian export industry and for Munich Airport.
"Above-average growth rates in the current year have already shown that Munich Airport is also becoming increasingly important as a hub airport for cargo. The attractiveness of Munich Airport as a cargo location will now receive a further boost through Lufthansa Cargo's commitment."
Highlighting the benefits of its transport operation at the Bavarian capital, Lufthansa Cargo said it operates a 38,000 sq m CEIV pharma-certified facility.
The hub is also connected to Lufthansa's Road Feeder Service network.
In May, Lufthansa announced that it would also expand its belly network from Munich with the addition of summer season flights to Seattle, Toronto, Vancouver, Trondheim in Norway, Nantes in France, Oulu in Finland, and Chișinău in Moldova.
Last year, the south German gateway registered a year-on-year increase of 6.6% in cargo volumes, whereas total airfreight volume in Germany as a whole fell by 7.1%, according to German Airports Association figures.
Munich’s freight totalled 284,000 tons, with a significant share attributable to belly cargo, which grew by 11%.
The airport added direct connections to China in the middle of last year, a new route to Bangalore in southern India and four weekly flights to Taipei.
This year, new routes were due to be added to Johannesburg, Vietnam, Beijing and Osaka.
Month-on-month figures for January and February 2024 were meanwhile up by 6.5% and 10.8% respectively and overall freight at Munich is now back to almost 90% of the pre-pandemic level.
DHL Express is also due to open a new freight building in the summer.
https://www.aircargonews.net/airlines/munich-bucks-the-trend-as-cargo-grows-in-2023/
