Lufthansa Cargo

Lufthansa Cargo AG is a German cargo airline and a wholly owned subsidiary of Lufthansa. It operates worldwide air freight and logistics services and is headquartered at Frankfurt Airport, Lufthansa's main hub.^[1][2] Besides operating dedicated cargo planes, the company also has access to cargo capacities of 350 passenger aircraft of the Lufthansa Group.

Lufthansa Cargo AG

A Boeing 777F of Lufthansa Cargo
IATA ICAO Call sign LH GEC LUFTHANSA CARGO
Founded	1977; 48 years ago (1977) (as German Cargo)
Commenced operations	1993; 32 years ago (1993) (as Lufthansa Cargo)
Hubs	Frankfurt Airport
Subsidiaries	AeroLogic (50%)
Fleet size	16
Destinations	57
Parent company	Lufthansa Group
Headquarters	Frankfurt, Hesse, Germany
Key people	Ashwin Bhat (CEO)
Website	www.lufthansa-cargo.com

History

A former Lufthansa Cargo McDonnell Douglas DC-8-73 in 1994.

A former Lufthansa Cargo Boeing 747-200 featuring the WOW Alliance logo in 2004.

A now retired Lufthansa Cargo McDonnell Douglas MD-11F wearing the airline's former livery in 2010.

Lufthansa Cargo Boeing 777F

Foundation and early years

Recognizing the growing importance of the cargo business, Lufthansa established its cargo subsidiary in 1977 called German Cargo Services GmbH.^[3] Previously, cargo operations were executed in-house, under the Lufthansa Cargo name, when – in an effort to restructure the company – the cargo division was re-integrated into its parent, and split up into two parts (one for scheduled operations using Lufthansa-owned aircraft, and one for freight and logistics services using chartered or leased aircraft).^{[citation needed]}

In 1996, Hinduja Cargo Services was founded as a joint venture between Hinduja Group and Lufthansa Cargo. The company operated a fleet of Boeing 727 freighters, flying from airports in the Indian subcontinent to feed Lufthansa Cargo's hub at Sharjah International Airport.^[4] The airline suspended operations in 2000 in favour of direct services from Frankfurt using Lufthansa Cargo aircraft.^[5]

Development since 2000

In 2000, Lufthansa Cargo was a founding member of the WOW Alliance, a global cargo airline alliance, but left in 2007 as it did not see any benefits for the future.

In 2002 the special logistics company time:matters was founded, which was sold in the meantime, but is now again a wholly owned subsidiary of Lufthansa Cargo.^[6]

Lufthansa Cargo was created as a limited stock company on 30 November 2004, along with Lufthansa Cargo Charter. Lufthansa Cargo uses LH (the same IATA code as Lufthansa), as well as GEC (the former ICAO code of German Cargo) as airline codes.

As of 2007, Lufthansa Cargo used to operate a hub for intra-Asian flights at Astana International Airport in Kazakhstan, but was forced to relocate it to Yemelyanovo Airport in Russia in 2007, because otherwise the airline would have been banned from entering Russian airspace, in what was described as an act of economic blackmail by the Russian authorities.^[7][8]

In 2004, Jade Cargo International was founded as a joint venture between Shenzhen Airlines, Lufthansa Cargo, and the German Investment Corporation, a German governmental entity.^[9] This venture operated a fleet of six Boeing 747 freighters that flew to destinations that include Frankfurt, Chennai, Shanghai, and Chengdu. Jade ended operations in 2011.^[9]

As of 2011, all Lufthansa Cargo aircraft were based at Frankfurt Airport, the seventh busiest freight hub in the world, where the airline enjoys a strong co-operation with Fraport, the operator of the airport. Cargo facilities at the airport are divided into two places (Cargo City North and South), of which the first one is nearly exclusively used by Lufthansa Cargo. Lufthansa Cargo previously had a secondary base at Leipzig/Halle Airport, the European hub for DHL Express, from where it operated flights on behalf of DHL. Activities at this airport gradually came to an end following the formation of AeroLogic as a joint venture between Lufthansa and DHL, which henceforth caters for the DHL flights, allowing Lufthansa Cargo to concentrate on other services.^[10]

In May 2011, Lufthansa Cargo opened another hub at Rajiv Gandhi International Airport in Hyderabad, India, to transport temperature-sensitive goods, especially pharmaceuticals, between South East Asia and Europe (and onwards to the United States).^[11]

In 2019, heyworld GmbH was founded as a wholly owned subsidiary of Lufthansa Cargo with a focus on eCommerce logistics.^[12] The company and another Lufthansa subsidiary was planned to benefit from the Airbus A321F operations.^[13]

In September 2020, Lufthansa Cargo confirmed it was retiring its remaining McDonnell Douglas MD-11F during 2021 despite the grown freight demand in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.^[14] The last MD-11F flight took place on 17 October 2021.^[15]

In June 2024, Lufthansa Cargo announced the inauguration of its first freighter services from Munich Airport with scheduled flights to Istanbul.^[16]

Destinations

As of May 2021^[update], Lufthansa Cargo serves 57 cities worldwide.^[17]

Fleet

Current fleet

As of August 2025^[update], the Lufthansa Cargo fleet consists of the following aircraft:^[18]

Aircraft	In service	Orders	Notes
Airbus A321-200/P2F[19]	4	—
Boeing 777F	12[20]	1[21]
Boeing 777-8F	—	7	Deliveries between 2027 and 2030.[21]
Total	16	9

Fleet development

The initial fleet of Lufthansa Cargo previously belonged to German Cargo, and was expanded by cargo-converted former Lufthansa Boeing 747-200s. From 1998, the airline began to gradually phase out all other aircraft types in favour of a fleet entirely consisting of the McDonnell Douglas MD-11 (which Lufthansa received as freighter versions in 2001 after MD-11 production ended) version and its successor, the Boeing 777 freighter. In March 2011, an order of five Boeing 777F was announced, the same aircraft type which had earlier been chosen for AeroLogic.^[22] Almost the entire Lufthansa Cargo fleet today is composed of purpose-built freighter aircraft. Lufthansa Cargo had planned to retire its remaining MD-11s by December 2020, but the retirement was delayed due to the increased cargo demand caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

With the delivery of the first Boeing 777F, Lufthansa Cargo started to name their aircraft using typical greetings of the countries they serve. The first 777F was named Good day, USA, while an MD-11F was named Buenos días México for example.^[23]

In October 2024, Lufthansa CityLine transferred all four of its Airbus A321-200/P2F to Lufthansa Cargo which it had operated for them.^[19]

Former fleet

Over the years, the following aircraft types were operated:^{[citation needed]}

Aircraft	Total	Introduced	Retired	Notes
Boeing 737-200F	3	1993	1995
Boeing 737-300SF	1	1994	1997
Boeing 747-200F	10	1993	2005
Douglas DC-8-73F	5	1993	1997
McDonnell Douglas MD-11F	19	1998	2021[15]

Accidents and incidents

• On 11 December 1978, the Lufthansa heist took place. A group of criminals managed to get into the Lufthansa Cargo offices at JFK Airport in New York City. They threatened staff by pointing guns and stole more than $5 million( 27 million today ). Only a small portion of the money was recovered.^{[citation needed]}
• On 26 July 1979, a Boeing 707 freighter (registration D-ABUY) operating Flight 527 crashed into a hilly slope shortly after take-off, killing all 3 crew-members on board. The cause of the accident was mainly attributed towards the lack of Brazilian Air Traffic control to pay necessary attention to aircraft in their airspace and warn aircraft of the impending collision with terrain.^[24]
• On 18 October 1983, a Boeing 747-200 freighter registered D-ABYU operating as Flight 683 overshot the runway during an aborted takeoff at Kai Tak Airport in Hong Kong having experienced a failure of the number 2 engine. The aircraft was substantially damaged, but was repaired and returned to service.^[25]
• On 7 July 1999, a Boeing 727-243 freighter leased from Hinduja Cargo Services operating as Lufthansa Cargo Flight 8533 from Nepal to India, crashed into a mountain after takeoff from Tribhuvan International Airport in Kathmandu, Nepal, killing all five people on board.^[26]
• On 7 November 2004, at 16:35 local time, a Boeing 747-200 freighter, owned and operated by Air Atlanta Icelandic, overshot the runway upon take-off at Sharjah International Airport and was damaged beyond repair. The aircraft, registered TF-ARR, had been leased by Lufthansa Cargo to operate Flight 8457 to Frankfurt Airport. The pilots had decided to abort the take-off run even though the remaining runway length did not suffice to bring the aircraft to a halt because of a burst tyre and the ATC notification of an alleged fire (which turned out to be not true). The four people on board were not injured.^[27]
• On 27 July 2010, at 11:38 local time, Lufthansa Cargo Flight 8460, an MD-11 registered D-ALCQ, crashed upon landing at King Khalid International Airport, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia and was damaged beyond repair in the ensuing fire. The Pilot in command and the Officer — the only two people on board — were able to leave the aircraft by themselves.^[28][29][30]
• On 24 November 2013, Lufthansa Cargo Flight 8258, an MD-11 registered D-ALCE, bounced during landing at Viracopos International Airport and initiated a go around. The aircraft landed with substantial damage. It was later repaired and returned to service.^[31]