German leisure charter airline Condor will begin operating four of its Boeing 767 passenger aircraft on behalf of worldwide cargo and logistics company DHL Express.
The first cargo flights under the partnership took off this week.
The Condor aircraft will be handled at Europe’s largest DHL Express hub in Leipzig and will transport shipments on a total of three routes to Shannon in Ireland, Milan-Malpensa in Italy and Cologne.
In the future, these flights will also be able to transport COVID-19 vaccines, according to Condor.
The partnership is initially limited until the end of May.
“We have already been operating more cargo flights over the past year and have expanded our expertise here. We are very pleased to now also work with such an experienced partner as DHL Express,” said Christian Schmitt, COO of Condor.
“The partnership also shows that Condor can flexibly adapt to circumstances in special situations and thus contribute an important part to the international supply chain in co-operation with DHL.”
“This firm partnership between cargo and passenger carriers is unique,” adds Markus Otto, senior vice president aviation Europe at DHL Express. “It enables us to respond even faster and more flexibly to the continued high customer demand for international express shipping. The additional Condor capacity will enable us to further improve our service quality and transit times and continue on our growth path.”
Condor has already been operating more cargo flights since April last year and, in addition to e-commerce goods, has so far mainly transported medical protective equipment such as millions of mouth-nose masks, protective suits and gloves.
In the course of this, part of the Boeing 767 fleet was also converted into cargo-only aircraft and the seats were expanded. In the meantime, 14 of 16 Boeing 767s were being used exclusively for cargo flights.
Condor has also trained and deployed special cargo supervisors for this purpose, ensuring smooth operations.
For Deutsche Post DHL Group’s Express division, the partnership is part of a program of active measures to expand capacity in the face of growing express volumes worldwide and maintain the company’s growth trajectory. Early in 2021, DHL Express had already announced additional purchases of new wide-body Boeing 777F aircraft.
Article courtesy of Airlinerwatch.
