Lufthansa Cargo to put into operation converted A321 freighters
Lufthansa Cargo is planning to launch a series of medium-haul air freight connections from its base in Frankfurt. To this end, the airline will deploy two converted Airbus A321 freighters with a roller system for moving pallets and containers inside the fuselage.
Starting from 15 March, Lufthansa Cargo will introduce its first converted Airbus A321freighter to its fleet. The aircraft will perform its first commercial flight from Frankfurt to Dublin. Afterwards, the aircraft will deliver freight from the company’s base in Frankfurt to Manchester, Malta, Istanbul, Tel Aviv and Tunis. For 29 March, the airline has been scheduled to commence the flights to Cairo. The second converted freighter will be put into operation in late summer.
Strategic segment
By adding the converted Airbus A321 freighters, Lufthansa Cargo is trying to meet the continuing growth in demand from the e-commerce industry as well as offer customers even more capacity and additional fast connections. “With the added medium-haul freighters, we are opening up a whole new strategic business segment. In the future, the A321F will offer attractive same-day and e-commerce solutions within Europe and to selected medium-haul destinations, and the new network represents a major step towards the fast-growing e-commerce segment,” said Ashwin Bhat, CCO of Lufthansa Cargo.
Converted aircraft
The conversion of the first A321 aircraft with the registration D-AEUC has already been completed. It has received a reinforced floor, a roller system for fast loading and unloading, a large cargo door and many other features. With a total payload of 28 tonnes, it can carry up to 14 pallet and container positions in the main deck and 10 in the lower deck. Both converted aircraft will be operated under a wet-lease agreement by Lufthansa CityLine, each under Lufthansa Cargo flight numbers.