Lufthansa Cargo continues fossil-free cargo flights

Since the end of 2020, there has been a cooperation between Lufthansa Cargo and DB Schenker, under which an exclusively sustainable aviation fuel-covered cargo rotation between Frankfurt and Shanghai was initially offered. In April 2021, a regular charter service was then started, which is now to continue until at least October 2022. According to the companies, 31,000 tons of CO2e have been saved since the start. On March 25, 2022, the 100th joint greenhouse gas-neutral cargo flight is to be carried out. The so-called Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) is obtained from bio-waste, for example from used frying fat. According to the company, the engines only emit CO2 that the plants used to produce the cooking oil extracted from the atmosphere during photosynthesis.

According to Lufthansa Cargo, for each cargo rotation from Frankfurt to Shanghai and back, the need for 174 tons of conventional kerosene is covered by purchasing SAF. This is subsequently fed into the Frankfurt Airport fueling system. Per week, this amounts to 217,500 liters of SAF, which DB Schenker will use during the summer flight schedule according to their own information. Through the use of SAF, approximately 520 tons of CO2e emissions can be saved per week, according to the cargo airline.

An additional 150 tons of CO2e emissions, which are generated during the transport and processing of SAF, can furthermore be compensated through certified climate protection projects. The CO2 emissions saved through the use of SAF can be documented for DB Schenker and its customers. According to Lufthansa Cargo, the weekly flight connection is the only regular full-charter connection fully covered with SAF.

"With our long-standing partner Lufthansa Cargo, we will continue our offering of CO2-free flights and thus further lead the way. We are pleased if more customers want to join us on the path to more sustainable transport," said Thorsten Meincke, Board Member for Air and Ocean Freight at DB Schenker.

Clients in the first year include companies such as Siemens Healthineers, Mercedes-Benz, ZF, Merck, Nokia, and Lenovo.