From now on, Lufthansa Cargo AG, the Lufthansa group cargo carrier, will carry out regular air cargo transportation from Yerevan. Today, the official opening of the flight took place at "Zvartnots" International Airport. Flights will be operated every Sunday.

Angela Gilfanutdinova, the regional director of Lufthansa Cargo in Russia and the CIS, mentioned to the journalists that the regular flight will be carried out through their hub in Frankfurt. "The cargo will be reloaded in Frankfurt and will go to different countries of the world. In other words, the cargo will not be delivered by the same aircraft, but reloading will take place in the hub and they will be delivered by other aircraft.

At the moment, we are discussing the carrying out of a flight once a week, but I am sure that the market potential is such that after a very short time, 3-4 weeks, we will be able to talk about implementing more frequent flights to and from Yerevan," she emphasized.

To the question why Yerevan was chosen, Angela Gilfanutdinova answered, "We did not choose among the CIS countries, we chose the potential airports. It was not the territory that was taken into account here, but the economic interest. From the point of view of economic cooperation, our partners from the USA and Europe, particularly Netherlands, Belgium, and Germany, have shown a really high demand for Armenia. We, in turn, have taken into account the opinion of our customers, we have seen that there is also a demand to transport cargo from Yerevan. This allowed us to calculate the profitability of this flight and launch it.

Air transportation is in demand here, because there are certain types of cargo for which speed and reliability are important, in particular, perishable, expensive cargo, or cargo that requires fast delivery. That's why, seeing the potential in those market segments, we decided to launch this flight."

According to Gilfanutdinova, the expectations are ambitious, and for that it is necessary that it be profitable. "The capacity of one flight is 28 tons. We expect to use 70 percent of that capacity, maybe more. Air travel means first and foremost speed, and to have speed we must offer more frequent flights. For that, the first flight is the start, and we consider that 2-3 flights a week will be needed," she emphasized.

In turn, the head of Lufthansa Cargo's commercial department, Hanno Burwitz, noted that Armenia's economy is multi-branched and flexible. "We have noticed great growth in the economy of Armenia in recent years. The Armenian cargo transportation market is quite attractive. That is why Lufthansa Cargo chose Armenia as the first destination in the South Caucasus. We mainly work with businesses, we have a large number of Armenian clients here, we also have clients from different parts of the world who import to Armenia. There is a large Armenian community in Los Angeles. We receive a large number of positive responses from companies operating in Los Angeles, who are interested in cargo transportation to Armenia," he said.