Santa Claus’ gifts fly on FRA – JFK route aboard Lufthansa Cargo’s MD-11F

Dec 13, 2018: Lufthansa Cargo is operating an additional MD-11 freighter weekly exclusively for Deutsche Post on the Frankfurt New York/JFK route from mid-November until January 3.

This is to ensure that the enormous volume of Christmas mail and parcels between Germany and the USA is dealt with smoothly and on time.

Each flight can carry 60 tonnes of cargo – with most of it being gifts and e-commerce shipments but also Christmas messages and greeting cards.

The Atlantic will be criss-crossed seven times in total in the service of Santa Claus. “There is great demand in the run-up to Christmas for our Airmail/eCommerce product in particular for short-notice deadline-sensitive shipments,” explained Dorothea von Boxberg, executive board member Product and Sales, Lufthansa Cargo.

“Therefore, we have ramped up capacity exclusively for our close partner Deutsche Post AG in recent years already. This year, for the first time, we have even been able to provide the support of seven charters during the Christmas period due to growing parcel volumes.” Boxberg emphasised that the extra flights allow Lufthansa Cargo and Deutsche Post DHL to ensure that gifts make it under the tree on time.

Furthermore, this supports many SMEs and e-commerce platforms in Germany in particular in gaining access to the major global players at the busiest time of the year.

On the important connection to the USA especially, daily shipment volumes are currently a third higher than in other months. “This trend shows once again how important mail still is for connecting people and companies in different countries,” emphasised Thomas Kling, senior vice president International Operations at Deutsche Post AG.

The first plane already took off on November 19 and the last flight will leave FRA for JFK on January 3.