SATCOM is the keyword which is currently on everybody’s lips at Lufthansa Cargo. Behind it is a satellite communications system which allows the freighters of the logistics specialist in the Lufthansa Group to fly even more efficiently. In July, Lufthansa Cargo completed the installation of the system in all 18 aircraft of its MD-11 fleet. Installation started in summer 2012 and will be of benefit to the environment.
Thanks to the newly-installed system, Lufthansa Cargo can take more direct flights on numerous routes. One example: the possible shortening of the route from Hong Kong and Guangzhou in China to the Almaty in Kazakhstan made possible by SATCOM will save around 2,000 tons of fuel and 6,300 tons of CO2 emissions every year. That will provide relief on the cost side and will make a positive contribution to the Lufthansa Group’s environmental targets. By 2020, the airlines in the Group aim to lower the specific emissions by a quarter compared with 2006.
At the end of the year, when Lufthansa Cargo takes delivery of the first two of five ordered Boeing 777F freighters, further successes with respect to fuel efficiency will be within reach: because this aircraft type is regarded as the most modern, most efficient and quietest aircraft of its class. And it will, of course, also make use of SATCOM.
