Every seven minutes, an aircraft lands with Lufthansa Cargo freight on board. Over 1,000 trucks travel under a Lufthansa Cargo flight number every day. On average, five living organs are transported for transplants every day. With 18 Boeing 777 freighters, Lufthansa Cargo operates the largest exclusive 777 freighter fleet in the world. With the highest loading capacity of all twin-engine freighters and a range of 9,000 kilometers equivalent to the Frankfurt-Hong Kong route - it is currently the world's most modern and efficient freighter. Lufthansa Cargo's route network covers around 300 destinations in over 100 countries worldwide. Take a look back with us at the most unusual transports in 2024.
Among the heaviest highlights of 2024 was a shipment weighing 65 tons - one of the heaviest cargos Lufthansa Cargo has ever transported. This impressive load for the automotive industry flew from Viracopos, Brazil, to Frankfurt and then on to Malmö, Sweden, and had to be split across several flights.
The General Electric aircraft turbine that Lufthansa Cargo transported from Beijing to Frankfurt in November 2024 was over 5 meters long, 3 meters high and weighed 12 tons. As always, fast transportation was very important in order to equip an aircraft with the engine and avoid long ground times. This is because flight cancellations or delays can result in high follow-up costs.
But Lufthansa Cargo is not only able to transport heavy machines. In 2024 alone, the Lufthansa Cargo Animal Lounge hosted more than 80 million animals, including 2,800 horses, 14,000 pets and 200 zoo animals. Among these, Lufthansa Cargo had the honor of accompanying two Siberian tigers on their way to freedom last year. The two noble big cats were flown from Frankfurt to Almaty on a Lufthansa Cargo freighter in September 2024 to be released into the wild in Kazakhstan - all under the patronage of the WWF, which accompanied the tigers during their acclimatization in the national park.
In March 2024, a very special exhibition travelled from Chicago, USA, to Frankfurt: the hip hop exhibition THE CULTURE was organized by the Baltimore Museum of Art and the Saint Louis Art Museum and presented in cooperation with the Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt. The Lufthansa Cargo B777F transported a total of 62 packages and 14,640 kg of art from Chicago, the logistical heart of the USA, to the home airport of Frankfurt in the heart of Europe. The special thing about this was that the CO₂ emissions during transportation were reduced with the "Sustainable Choice" add-on service through the use of sustainable aviation fuel, combined with a contribution to high-quality climate protection projects. The art was thus transported around the world in a more sustainable way.
The Mpox outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo and surrounding countries shows the unequal access to vaccines worldwide. This made the successful Lufthansa Cargo transport of 100,000 Mpox vaccines from Brussels to Kinshasa in mid-November 2024 with SN357 all the more important - a mission made possible by seamless collaboration with key stakeholders. The arrival of the shipment in Kinshasa marked an important step towards containing the Mpox outbreak and protecting public health in the region. This shipment was the result of a joint effort involving the EU Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid, the German Embassy in Brussels, Brussels Airport, Swissport and World Courier and underlines Lufthansa Cargo's commitment to global health and its role in supporting critical humanitarian relief efforts.
So it doesn't matter what is to be loaded through the cargo airline's aircraft doors, whether tigers or turbines, vaccines or art, roses or racing cars, Lufthansa Cargo delivers any kind of cargo to its destination on time and on demand, thanks to its extensive know-how and many years of experience in the handling and transportation of goods - true to its purpose Enabling Global Business.
