Cathay Pacific Cargo is relocating its local cargo handling activities at Frankfurt Airport to the Lufthansa Cargo terminal as part of the cooperation agreement between the two airlines.

The relocation of Cathay Pacific Cargo’s freight handling into the Lufthansa Cargo Center (LCC) in Frankfurt is a core element of the carrier’s joint business agreement (JBA) that was announced in May 2016 between Cathay Pacific Cargo and Lufthansa Cargo.

The merging of freight handling for imports and exports was concluded on 17 January 2017 and customers of both airlines will benefit.

As part of the cooperation agreement, both airlines are closely working together on network planning and sales as well as IT and service expansion. Both partners plan to transport the first joint shipment on 1 February 2017 – initially from Hong Kong to Europe. The ability to also book eastbound shipments from Europe to Hong Kong will then follow in 2018.

Cathay Pacific director of cargo, Simon Large says: “Cathay Pacific Cargo’s move into the Lufthansa Cargo Center is another important step in furthering our collaboration. In addition to providing more direct connections and greater flexibility, we can now offer our customers in Frankfurt the same handling standards that will lead to more efficiency and time savings.”

Lufthansa Cargo chief executive officer,  Peter Gerber explains: “We are excited to have reached a further milestone within the partnership, sharing the freight handling station in Frankfurt. This means our customers at the Frankfurt site are now benefiting from the advantages of our cooperation.”

The joint activities are carried out in full compliance with all applicable laws, including the competition rules of the European Union and Hong Kong.