The carrier offers 83 weekly connections with 16 Boeing 777 freighters. During Winter Schedule, Lufthansa Cargo will increase its fleet up to 18 freighters. Shankar Iyer, Director, South Asia, Sales & Handling, Lufthansa Cargo. He discusses plans to modernize the fleet, expand network, and adopt sustainability.
Ritika Arora Bhola
Share with us your plans for fleet expansion. Any plans to add more Indian destinations?
Lufthansa Cargo offers its customers 83 weekly connections with 16 existing Boeing 777 freighters to global destinations. The fleet is likely to grow by two more freighters. During the Winter Schedule, the belly capacities of 6,000 flights will be operated by Lufthansa, Austrian Airlines, Brussels Airlines, Discover Airlines and SunExpress.
Final decision on expanding our network will be worked out as per customer demand and our operational requirements. Since November 2023, the fourth A321 freighter has been operating in our network, contributing to the carrier’s expansion plans. We are evaluating its performance to ensure it is in line with our operational standards and market requirements.
How crucial is technology in today’s times?
Lufthansa Cargo has been at the forefront of technological trends on the global air cargo stage, in terms of digitization and automation. However, Artificial Intelligence (AI) could be a turning point in many areas of the cargo business, improving efficiency, accuracy, and productivity across all business units, from predictive analytics for route planning to inventory management in cargo handling. To realize its potential, it is important to recognize that AI will never fully replace human intelligence, but rather complement it. This means the integration of AI will require a transformation in the skills of employees across our organization. It is difficult to pin point exactly how the development of AI will affect certain areas of the cargo business. Keeping up with the speed of technological progress will be a key priority for us at Lufthansa Cargo. As with technological advances and innovations in the past, we intend to remain at the forefront of the industry in this exciting new field.
What are sustainability initiatives taken to cut carbon emissions?
Global responsibility and sustainable, future-oriented action are part of our DNA. Since the 1990s, Lufthansa Group has been collecting noise and emissions data with Lufthansa Cargo to make efficiency measurable: we have had an environmental strategy for 10 years, and the topic of sustainability has been anchored in the Lufthansa Cargo’s corporate strategy for two years. Our goal is to be a role model as a sustainable air cargo provider. This means we aim to cut our net CO2 emissions by half by 2030 (as compared to 2019) and that we aim to achieve net zero emissions by 2050.
Furthermore, we have validated SBTi targets for which the Lufthansa Group reduces its specific CO2 emissions by 30.6 per cent until 2030 based on 2019. Ambitious goal settings, such as the SBTi, requires creating the spirit and mindset to meet those targets. The organization must be adapted to cope with this added layer of complexity. In all those aspects we have made progress and are on the right trajectory to meeting those targets. We are committed to becoming sustainable in the air and on the ground, because every action counts. Our greatest opportunity for action and potential for CO2 savings is in the air. Our actions are divided into four areas—fleet modernization, fuel efficiency, Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF), and offsetting. We are committed to achieving carbon neutrality in our ground operations by 2030.
Tell us about your global freighter operations?
We continue to invest in the modernization of our fleet. As of October 2021, we converted our long-haul fleet to the Boeing 777F—the most modern freighter in the world today. Its successor, Boeing 777-8F, has already been ordered and it will enter service in 2027. We would use innovative technologies such as AEROShark to save fuel. This special coating reduces the aircraft’s frictional resistance by 1 per cent. Started in 2023, all Boeing 777Fs will be equipped with AEROShark technology. Calculated over Lufthansa Cargo’s entire 777 fleet, it will save 4,000 MT of kerosene and 13,000 MT of CO2 emissions per year. This corresponds to 53 cargo flights from Frankfurt to Shanghai. In the long run, fuel can be used efficiently through regular data collection and analysis.
With the support of modern data analysis tools such as OMEGA, the fuel requirements per flight are optimally adapted to the actual conditions, including the fuel reserve—Analyzed Contingency Fuel. Lufthansa Cargo is a pioneer in the use of SAF, which enables more sustainable flying. Compared to fossil fuels, SAF reduces CO2 emissions by up to 80 per cent on a well-to-wheel basis. The remaining emissions, 20 per cent, caused by the production and transportation of SAF are offset by a contribution to high-quality climate protection projects.
In 2021, the share of SAF in Lufthansa Cargo freighters’ (B777Fs) fuel consumption was over 1 per cent, doubling to 2.1 per cent in 2022. Another part of our sustainability initiatives is offsetting. We use offset projects to avoid or remove carbon emissions in other sectors and outside our supply chain, which contributes to savings. When selecting projects, we focus on sustainability criteria.
