Lufthansa Cargo will launch its first freighter service from Belgium to the United States (US) from April 2024.
The Lufthansa Cargo Boeing 777F service will fly directly from Brussels International Airport (BRU) to Chicago O’Hare International Airport (ORD).
The new operation will commence on April 3, 2024, and will run twice a week on Mondays and Wednesdays.
Announcing the new service on March 13, 2024, Lufthansa Cargo confirmed that the entire routing will lead from Frankfurt via Brussels to Chicago and back to the home hub in Frankfurt.
Lufthansa Cargo highlighted the importance of Brussels Airport as the “preferred European pharma gateway”.
“We are looking forward to our customers being able to book on this new route with immediate effect. Brussels Airport is an important hub for the pharmaceutical business in particular. With our new connection, we can now offer an even more attractive network, and in particular a direct connection for particularly time-critical freight, which now includes up to 34 freighter connections from Europe to North America,” Ashwin Bhat, CEO of Lufthansa Cargo, said.
According to Lufthansa Cargo, BRU has the largest surface of pharma warehouses in Europe while staff at the airport are specialized in the handling of time and temperature sensitive goods.
“We are happy to be welcoming Lufthansa Cargo in our airport community and to support their cargo operations to and from Brussels Airport. With our shared focus on the reliable and efficient transport of pharmaceuticals and a shared ambition in terms of sustainability, as they are pioneering technologies such as sharkskin technology and invest in Sustainable Aviation Fuel, they are an important asset to our cargo network,” Arnaud Feist, CEO of Brussels Airport, said.
From March 31, 2024, Lufthansa Cargo’s fleet of Boeing 777Fs will complete 82 weekly connections around the globe.
Between Europe and North America there will be 34 connections per week and 42 direct links from Europe to Asia.
From Europe, Lufthansa Cargo will also visit South America four times a week and the Middle East and Africa twice a week.
A fleet of Airbus A321Fs form the short and medium-haul network with up to 18 destinations and belly capacity is available on Lufthansa, Austrian Airlines, Brussels Airlines, Discover Airlines and SunExpress flights.