Cathay Pacific Cargo and Lufthansa Cargo welcomed Swiss WorldCargo into their joint business agreement (JBA) at the end of May, boosting frequencies and options for customers between Hong Kong and Europe.
‘The agreement creates a new transit gateway from Zurich to access regional destinations across Switzerland and continental Europe,’ says Cathay Pacific’s Head of Cargo Revenue Management Tim Wong.
The addition of Swiss WorldCargo offers more choices to the customers with routings to 90 destinations via its Zurich hub, and greater frequencies. Swiss currently operates two flights a week from Hong Kong to Zurich.
The cargo handling for all three partners in Hong Kong will be based at the Cathay Pacific Cargo Terminal, where customers will experience a harmonised handling service out of Hong Kong.
The initiative will allow teams from all three airlines to cooperate on network planning, as well as sales, ground handling and IT. Customers are already able to access all three airlines’ networks via each airline’s booking system.
Kenny Leung, Head of Cargo, Hong Kong & Taiwan for Swiss WorldCargo, says this increases flexibility for customers. ‘Customers can book either of the joint venture carriers using one master air waybill and one booking platform. It will definitely make their lives easier,’ he says.
For now, and as with the original JBA with Lufthansa Cargo signed in 2016, the airlines will initially cooperate on traffic from Hong Kong to Zurich and Frankfurt. Plans to include Swiss WorldCargo’s access to all flights to other European gateways are set for later this year, and shipments from Europe to Hong Kong to be announced in due course.
Overall, the trilateral arrangement marks another win for the customer, according to Jorga Ahlborn, Senior Director Sales & Operations for Lufthansa Cargo. ‘The past five years have shown that together, Lufthansa Cargo and Cathay Pacific Cargo have been able to offer the best air freight offer from Hong Kong to Europe to our customers – and this will now become even more attractive,’ he concludes.
