DHL and Lufthansa launch new cargo carrier

In a bold but largely unvoidable move, a new cargo airline has taken flight in what is arguably the harshest air cargo environment in the history of air cargo. AeroLogic, the new child of global heavyweights DHL Express and Lufthansa Cargo officially started operations out of its Leipzig, Germany hub Friday after two years of extensive planning.

The all-cargo carrier is a unique joint venture that sees the capacity of what will ultimately be an eight-plane fleet of 102-tonne B777 freighters shared between the two express and cargo partners. The first aircraft will serve DHL's express network on weekdays ex-Leipzig to Bahrain, Singapore, Delhi, Leipzig while Lufthansa Cargo will make use the aircraft for its peak weekend traffic flying Leipzig, Tashkent, Hong Kong, Tashkent, Leipzig.

Three more of the leased B777Fs will be delivered this year with another four in 2010 which the carrier said will enable it to extend direct connections to most of Asia's major metropolitan areas.