For a long time, cargo only played third or fourth fiddle at the airline. However, the wind has changed since 01FEB24, when Peter Gerber, the former head of Lufthansa Cargo and Brussels Airlines, took the helm at the leisure airline. He attaches great importance to the cargo business and made this very clear in his presentation at the annual meeting of the German Freight Forwarders Association (DSLV), last week in Frankfurt.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Condor decided on a fleet rollover: B767 out, A330-900 neo in. It was a brave move in extremely difficult times for aviation, but a rewarding one as is now known. Currently, the company operates seventeen of these Airbus variants. Number 18 will arrive in Q1/2025, followed by three more A330-900 in the next two years. The fleet revamp increases the transport capacity per flight compared to its Boeing predecessor, and pre-built standard pallets (BUPs) can be loaded without any hassle. This saves time on the ground and notably eases cargo handling.
From seasonal to year-round services
The fleet rollover also enables Condor to gradually expand its long-haul network and offer the market year-round flights to key destinations such as New York, Miami, Seattle, Toronto, Cancun, and lately even Bangkok, Gerber emphasized in his speech. “We have also increased the number of interline agreements, allowing us to service up to 300 destinations directly or indirectly,” added Thilo Schaefer, Director Cargo at Condor and, like his boss, Peter Gerber, long-time executive of Lufthansa Cargo. Condor’s co-loading partners are – amongst others – DHL for connecting with South America; Copa Airlines in the Dominican Republic; Avianca in Cancun, Mexico; and Thai Vietjet Air in Bangkok, Thailand.
New (digital) product offerings
A second important step for playing a greater role in air freight was Condor’s decision to expand its digital services across all eBooking platforms and establish a close cooperation with HAUS61, a German start-up accelerator specializing in air cargo. The enhancement of the product portfolio has also begun. Alongside General Cargo, specials such as Perishables, Dangerous Goods, AVI and Mail were added to its offering. What pleases Thilo Schaefer most is the fact that air freight plays a more prominent role in the carrier’s network decisions. “The contribution of cargo is now more than ever considered when evaluating whether a route generates profits all year round or can only be operated profitably on a seasonal level,” the executive reasons. The growing role of air freight within the company is also documented by the fact that new employees are to be hired. “We will soon be welcoming two new colleagues to our team,” announces Schaefer. This will make a total of five employees who take care of sales steering, product management, digitalization and other cargo-related issues. That may not sound like much, but the operational side of the business is handled by the French agent, ECS, based on a Total Cargo Management contract with Condor.
