Think UAE, think Air Cargo, and those in the industry will immediately drop a couple of three-letter codes: DWC and DXB, denoting the United Arab Emirates’ buzzing cargo hubs. And now, where plans have been revealed to soon transform Dubai from the UAE’s largest into the world’s largest airport for passengers and freight, the point that it was in fact the lesser-known Emirate next door, Sharjah (SHJ), that was once the heaving hub of cargo traffic, slips further into oblivion. Yet, one particular group of people keeps the memories alive in regular, international get-togethers. CargoForwarder Global heard from Shailendar Kothari and Rohan Lobo – two of the original Lufthansa Cargo team responsible for setting up freighter operations way back in 1993.
Well before air cargo at Dubai Airport was even a tiny glimmer in the Sheikh’s eye (it literally slowly began taking off there with the humble beginnings of Emirates in the mid-1980s), trusty Sharjah Airport was already on the scene – an established, well-functioning and well-run international airport. Having had an RAF airbase since 1932, the new Sharjah Airport was inaugurated on 31DEC76. Though but a very young child resident in the Emirate at the time, I remember that Concorde landed there in AUG77, and have a celebratory vinyl single commemorating the fact.
30 years since Lufthansa Cargo founded its SHJ Hub
“SHJ was already on the Lufthansa route map from the German Cargo times, well before Lufthansa Cargo was founded in 1994,” Shailendar Kothari explains, going on to reveal its rapid development: “SHJ Hub came into being in APR93, with the debut of German Cargo DC8F operations to the Indian Sub-Continent. Starting with 60 flights a month, traffic reached a peak of almost 450 freighter flights per month. These included not only Lufthansa Cargo and Lufthansa Cargo India flights, but also those of Singapore Airlines, Cathay Pacific, UPS and Eva Air, to name but a few which were handled by Lufthansa Cargo in SHJ.” Kothari, along with Rohan Lobo, Eustace D’Souza, John Mampilli, Suzannah Pinto, Klaus Holler and Wolfgang Kobitz, were the first to make up the SHJ Hub team in APR93. Very soon, that team was to grow to 12 employees plus another 20 seconded staff from Sharjah Airport Authority.
Rohan Lobo illustrates the initial challenges in creating the LCAG cargo hub: “Recruitment of qualified workforce was the initial challenge and we relocated team members primarily from Delhi (DEL) and Mumbai (BOM), in the early days. Training and qualification were mainly carried out on the job as the hub was constantly running and active. And the perseverance to work in 50°C temperatures in the afternoons, with 6-8 freighters being handled simultaneously per shift, were challenging conditions. We had to recruit staff from Sharjah Airport Authorities and Lufthansa staff from Dubai (DXB) to help out with the initial station opening.”
In its heyday – 1993-2000
“SHJ connected all the main airports of the Indian Sub-Continent,” Kothari says. Here, Lufthansa Cargo India (flying as Hinduja Cargo Services – a joint venture between Hinduja Group and Lufthansa Cargo, founded in 1996 and closing in 2000, following an accident) operated with B727F aircraft “Commodities were mainly garments from the Indian subcontinent and sea-air traffic from the Far East.” Yet, SHJ also excelled in special loads: “Horse charters during the SHJ Hub times, was the forte of LCAG. SHJ was the go-to airport for all special loads like cattle charters, Formula 1 cars, to name but a few. Large overlapping cargo and center loads also became a routine to be handled every other day.”
For Lobo, the biggest highlight in terms of shipments through SHJ, was the fact that it was the only airport at that time to handle ‘Interchange flights’: “These were soon nick-named ‘Macarena’ flights,” he smiles. “Lufthansa Cargo (LCAG) would operate with B747F out of Frankfurt (FRA) to SHJ while Singapore Airlines (SQ) would fly a B747F from Singapore (SIN) to SHJ. Both flights arrived at the same time, and we would interchange the full load within the given two hours’ ground time. They would then return to FRA and SIN respectively. A few months later, we even began handling ‘Double Macarena’ flights. In addition to the SQ-LCAG interchange, we started having Eva Air-LCAG interchanges with an MD11 freighter arriving at the same time as the SQ operations.”
So much more going on
Apart from being a customer of Sharjah Airport Authority (SAA – which leased dedicated warehouses to Lufthansa Cargo, adding more warehouses as the demand increased), Lufthansa Cargo was also a GHA providing aircraft and warehouse handling for a number of airlines, and was the biggest player at SHJ Airport for a long time. It handled B747F, MD11F, DC8F, and B727F aircraft. “The cost, flexibility, geographical location and, last but not the least, the support of the decision makers of SHJ airport, were the key reasons for the success of SHJ Hub,” Kothari reasons. “Great support from Sharjah Airport Management, fast decision-making, and the willingness to get things done quickly, added to the success.”
For Lufthansa Cargo, too, the hub played an important support role to its Frankfurt base. “We built thru-ULDs for FRA and beyond,” Lobo showcases – a move that helped to reduce both workload and handling costs at the mother hub. “Due to the flexibility that SHJ airport provided, most of the flight training (Touch and Go) for new crew or new aircraft was done at SHJ. The favorable weather and low cost of aviation fuel and handling, also helped.”
All good things come to an end
Lufthansa Cargo ceased to exist at SHJ airport in 2020. Due to the extended range of its 777F fleet enabling it to fly nonstop between Europe and Asia, SHJ Hub began losing its importance. There was no longer a need for transit/fuel stops in the Middle East and thus SHJ slowly disappeared from Lufthansa Cargo’s destination map.
Keeping the memories alive
Every now and again, the Lufthansa Cargo colleagues involved in the SHJ Hub meet up informally to remember the Good Times – often ad hoc when their paths cross during trainings and meetings in Frankfurt (FRA). The first get-together took place in JUN15, when Kothari relocated to Frankfurt. However, a very special SHJ Reunion was arranged for the first time in the backwaters in Cochin Kerala, India, at the start of this year: 06-08JAN24, to commemorate the meanwhile 30th Anniversary of the cargo airline’s hub creation back in 1993. A smaller, 25-year celebration was held in Hallstatt, Austria in 2018.
What’s the situation today?
This time last year, Ali Salim Al Midfa, Chairman of Sharjah Airport Authority, announced a 2.4 billion Dirham Sharjah Airport expansion project due to be completed by 2026, aimed at attracting more airlines and “further reinforcing its reputation as a reliable and efficient cargo hub in the region.” To put things into perspective, however, it has to be pointed out that while the total cargo volumes handled through Sharjah Airport during the year 2023 was more than 141,000 tons, Dubai Airport (even with a slight decrease on previous year, of 4.5%), handled 1,805,898 tons of cargo in the same period. The glory years for SHJ were those between 1993 and 2000, the original SHJ Hub team believes, and they are unlikely to return.
