Lufthansa Cargo now has 14 weekly cargo flights between Shenzhen and Frankfurt

FRANKFURT: Lufthansa Cargo has begun offering an additional 14 cargo flights per week between Shenzhen in China to Germany’s Frankfurt City with millions of medical supplies still in high demand to fight the Coronavirus pandemic.

The first flight, an Airbus A330-300 from Lufthansa, took off from Shenzhen on May 18 as scheduled with about 3 million respiratory masks and other medical protective equipment on board on behalf of logistics company Fiege.

“Lufthansa Cargo is doing its utmost to strengthen security of supplies by air and maintain supply chains. We are continuing to expand our services to ensure the fast transport of large quantities of urgently needed goods,” explains Dorothea von Boxberg, Chief Commercial Officer Lufthansa Cargo.

Currently, all 17 Lufthansa Cargo freighters are in continuous operation to fly medical supplies, among other things, all over the world. From and to mainland China alone, 16 flights a week are currently operated with Boeing 777F wide-body freighters with a standard load capacity of around 103 tons.

With the newly opened route to Shenzhen, a total of up to 49 additional weekly flights with Lufthansa passenger aircraft for the transportation of goods are offered in China.

“As a reliable partner, Lufthansa Cargo has played an important role in the stable supply chain from Asia to Germany in recent weeks. The new cargo flights from Shenzhen ensure that we can make this supply chain even more flexible, so that urgently needed goods arrive quickly in Germany,” said Michael Völlnagel, CEO Fiege International Freight Forwarding.

Achim Plücker, Managing Director International Cargo Center Shenzhen, underscored the importance of the flights between the two countries.

“For Shenzhen Airport and the International Cargo Center Shenzhen, the launch of the Lufthansa connection is a further step in the internationalization of Shenzhen Bao’an Airport. We are very pleased to be able to participate in supplying Germany with urgently needed medical goods such as masks. It was an energetic effort on the part of everyone involved, especially the airport, to launch this new connection in just fourteen days,” he said.