6 L


Issue 6 2011


///NEWS


Luſthansa moves freighters out of Frankfurt following night flight ban


uſthansa Cargo has revealed details of the interim schedule


it will put in place following the surprise decision of the Hesse regional court to ban night flights at Frankfurt airport from the end of October - ahead of a final ruling by the Federal Administrative Court. The ban applies to flights between 23.00 and 05.00 from 30 October, the start of the airlines’ winter schedules. Two return freighter flights


to China have been cancelled completely while other China- bound flights will stop over in Cologne-Bonn for several hours aſter an early evening departure from Frankfurt before resuming their agreed slots over Siberia to the Far East. From January 2012, “at least one”


MD-22 freighter will be transferred from Frankfurt to Cologne-Bonn


to operate night flights to North America; however, cut-off times will have to be advanced by several hours and same day services to the US will be affected. The airline has calculated that the ban, if perpetuated, would increase its fuel consumption by 2.5m litres a year and put thousands of extra trucks on Germany’s roads. “The night flight ban has forced us


to lay on a timetable, which in part is economically and ecologically absurd,” said Luſthansa Cargo chairman Karl Ulrich Garnadt. “Closing


the world’s seventh-


biggest airport for six hours each night and thereby decoupling it from the international goods flows constitutes a severe blow to the air freight industry. No other transport mode is subject to such operational restrictions.” The Hesse regional court’s


ruling was a complete surprise to Luſthansa, Garnadt continued, given that the entire case was already sitting with the Federal Court, and had come only 19 days before the start of the new Winter 2011/12 flight schedule. The Hesse court had in effect “interfered in the Federal Court’s process”. A decision on the latter is still expected during the first quarter of 2012. Neither court’s decision can be appealed, he said. It was impossible to say whether the Hesse court’s decision would have any bearing on the Federal court’s decision. The one glimmer of hope for


Luſthansa and Frankfurt airport operator Fraport is that a recent ruling by the Federal Court has ruled in favour of allowing early evening and early morning ‘shoulder’ flights at the new Berlin Brandenburg Airport, which is due


to open next summer. Luſthansa also noted that the


Federal government had, in a coalition agreement, highlighted the importance of competitive opening times at German airports, and German airlines had worked at reducing noise emissions. Meanwhile, though, the ruling


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had created a very difficult situation for Luſthansa. “We have had in a very short space of time to reschedule our operations though we can more or less provide our customers with the required liſt,” Garnadt said. It was too early to quantify the effect on Luſthansa Cargo’s bottom line, but if perpetuated, the ban would cost “double digit millions of Euros” he said. It could also affect decision by major freight forwarders and other customers to invest in the Frankfurt area. Meanwhile, Luſthansa had seen “a huge wave of solidarity” from the industry over its position on the night ban. Frankfurt Hahn would not be


an effective solution as Luſthansa Cargo would lose the connectivity with scheduled passenger flights if it relocated its freighters to the relatively remote airport. However, the use of Cologne was just an intermediate solution to any permanent ban on night operations at Frankfurt, Garnadt added. It was also premature to comment on


any more radical solutions such as stationing Luſthansa freighters outside Germany. There would be no immediate


summer. Ironically, the Hesse court’s on


announcement Frankfurt came just a few days before


effect on Luſthansa Cargo’s freighter investment programme – new 777Fs would join the fleet as scheduled. “They are not on hold – but the question is where they will be stationed.” In a statement, airport operator


Fraport said the court’s decision would lead to cancellation of some internationally coordinated slots already allocated to the airlines although it was “encouraged” by the German Federal Administrative High Court on night flights at the new Berlin Brandenburg Airport, which is due to open next


the airport was due to open its Runway Northwest on 21 October. But a Fraport spokesman said that it was strictly a bi-directional landing runway and never was planned for operations during the proposed night time ban. Luſthansa Cargo also warned


in late November that it planned to reduce its capacity by around a quarter – the equivalent of four of its MD-11 freighters in response to a weak market outlook. The German carrier is also trying to reach agreement with Shenzhen Airlines on a capital injection for the Jade Cargo joint venture.


Greencarrier adds Finland link S


wedish-based forwarder Greencarrier, together with its


UK subsidiary Greencarrier PTS, Greencarrier is launching a direct service to Finland. The new link comes less than six months aſter Greencarrier acquired the Ipswich- based company PTS UK, which already had regular full and part- load services between the UK and Sweden, Denmark and Norway. A direct consolidated service and Helsinki


links Hull with


collection/delivery of individual shipments throughout the UK and Finland as required. Consolidation takes place at PTS facilities in Immingham and Ipswich. Greencarrier PTS Managing


director Robert Gaunt said that from the UK, the service has a closing


date of Friday with shipment on Saturday from Hull. The cargo arrives in Helsinki on Tuesdays. He added: “The Greencarrier terminal in Helsinki is in the port area itself resulting in fast cargo processing. This means that on Wednesday morning, we are ready for distribution all over Finland.” Ex-Finland, collection


is on Thursday for loading Friday and Scandinavia page 23 Antonov Airlines I


n the article on Ruslan International in FBJ’s Freighters report in Issue 5, we incorrectly stated that Antonov


Airlines is Russian. It is in fact a Ukrainian company. Apologies for any confusion caused.


sailing Saturday. Gaunt added: “For many


shipments, including hazardous goods, this is a very cost effective and reliable solution where the whole operation is controlled within one company utilising its many years of experience and expertise within the Nordic markets.”


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