Lufthansa launches Italy-US freighter flights

FOLLOWING the collapse of Alitalia Cargo Lufthansa is to launch a twice-weekly flight on Wednesdays and Saturdays between Milan and New York JFK and Chicago, and will use belly capacity on its recently launched passenger services from Lufthansa Italia's connection to Milan.

The move will entrench its position as biggest freight operator in the country following the carrier's capacity cutback by 10 per cent for this year and a reduced hour workload for its 2,600 employees. Its January cargo volume figures declined by 25.9 per cent compared to same period last year to 96,000 tons.

Lufthansa Cargo road freight positioning in truck services from Italy to its Frankfurt hub will siphon off Alitalia Cargo's services with its subsidiary Jade Cargo International well placed in Brescia, northern Italy providing four weekly freighter services to Shanghai and Shenzhen, reports Newark's Journal of Commerce.

Additionally with Alitalia now relaunched minus its cargo subsidiary other carriers including Luxembourg-based Cargolux will launch freighter services from Milan Malpensa, added the report.

Source: Transportweekly