GermanyReport airberlin out of Düsseldorf


airberlin inaugurated a daily A330-200 service between Düsseldorf and Abu Dhabi at the end of last month (March), with the aircraft offering a cargo capacity of 12 tonnes each way. Moreover, Etihad moved to a daily morning ser-


vice from Düsseldorf to Abu Dhabi on 16 April, employing an A330-300 with a cargo capacity of 15 tonnes. “These new flights add valuable extra cargo


throughput and also bring further markets such as Africa, the Indian subcontinent and throughout the Far East,” observes Gerton Hulsman, managing direc- tor of the airport handler DUS Cargo Logistics. With Emirates planning to step up its twice a day B777/A340-300 services to Dubai to purely B777 equipment in June, he pointed out: “Having increased capacity to these two hubs, both inbound and outbound access to and from the North Ger- many hub is greatly enhanced. “Düsseldorf is strategically positioned to cover a


wide area of northern Europe and is increasingly proving to be the ideal airport of choice for accessing this huge industrial catchment area,” Hulsman added.


Frankfurt-Hahn sets out an alternative


Hard on the heels of the recent Leipzig Higher Administrative Court ruling that confirmed that Frankfurt-Main airport will continue to face a night-time flight ban for the foreseeable future, the neighbouring Frankfurt-Hahn International airport has laid out its credentials as an alterna- tive to Germany’s busiest air freight gateway. Located about 115km from Frankfurt-Main


International, Hahn has plenty of spare capacity for both passenger and freighter flights during the day or night, as well as an operating licence unrestricted by any form of curfew. As a result, the airport’s operator – Flughafen


Frankfurt-Hahn – believes it is an ideal replace- ment for cargo service providers casting their eyes elsewhere for another cargo gateway. “Many airlines in Frankfurt will now have to


find new solutions and develop alternative mod- els,” comments Jörg Schumacher, managing director and spokesman for Flughafen Frankfurt-Hahn. “Therefore, we are increasing our range of services to take the


Schumacher: “we are increasing our range of services”


pressure off Frankfurt and take over some of the traffic. Together it should be possible for all involved to find acceptable long-term solutions,” he added. Some carriers, Schumacher pointed out – such


as Russia’s Aeroflot and Abu Dhabi’s Etihad Air- ways – are already operating bases at both Frankfurt airports. “These examples show that both airports com-


plement each other on a practical level and co-operation is possible,” Schumacher pointed out.


Hahn is now the fourth-busiest air freight gate-


way in Germany, having had a number of years of rapid growth in throughput and attracted several new airlines to its runways. A four-lane link to the German motorway sys- tem was also finished last year, significantly


reducing the travel time to Frankfurt and there remains plenty of room at Hahn to expand its scope, the operator confirmed.


time:matters intends to build on Courier.Solutions deal


time:matters, the Frankfurt- based specialist in urgent air freight shipments, has been declared the “exclusive partner” of Lufthansa Cargo’s newly launched express service, Courier.Solutions. The deal comes at a good


time and will represent some- thing of a shot in the arm for time:matters, given that Lufthansa Cargo is currently in the process of selling its 49 per- cent share in the company. As an exclusive partner of


Courier.Solutions, time:matters has developed specific processes for handling the service, includ- ing round-the-clock shipment monitoring and proactive shipment-related communication. Franz-Joseph Miller, CEO of time:matters, considers:


Miller notes “high level of confidence”


“Lufthansa Cargo’s decision to closely co-operate with time:mat- ters demonstrates a high level of confidence in the attractiveness and reliability of our services and reconfirms to us that we can offer customers with time-critical shipments throughout the world a unique added value – thanks to our highly flexible, special solutions.”


Handler receives seal of approval


Frankfurt-headquartered handler Fraport Cargo Services (FCS) has agreed another long-term contract with EVA Air. FCS has been handling for the Taiwan-based carrier since 1995, which flies two weekly all-cargo flights out of Taipei, via Delhi, to Frankfurt and back. EVA serves a total of more than 50 destinations across


Asia, Australasia, Europe and North America. “Taiwan is one of Asia’s strongest economies and EVA Air


is a highly valued client with an enormous additional future potential,” notes Winfried Hartmann, managing director of WCS. He added that the contract renewal “clearly confirms the relevance of our strategy and positioning as a high qual- ity service provider”.


30 April 2012 Page 7


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