Boeing

Lufthansa Cargo ordered six Boeing MD-11 trijet freighters, Boeing confirmed today.

Lufthansa Cargo is exercising three options from a previous order and placing a firm order for three additional airplanes. Deliveries are scheduled to begin in 2000 and continue through 2001.

The airline has ordered 14 MD-11 freighters since 1996. Delivery of Lufthansa Cargo's first four airplanes this year marked the airline's start of its comprehensive fleet renewal program, aimed at equipping the company to meet the future challenges of global, integrated air-cargo service.

"Lufthansa Cargo does an outstanding job of realizing maximum utility from the MD-11 freighters, which explains why the company is an industry leader in providing a strong return on its assets," said Tom Basacchi, Boeing Commercial Airplane Group vice president - Europe/Russia.

For the second time in recent months, Lufthansa Cargo set a new world record for gross payload for the MD-11F on Sept. 17. After breaking the previous record set at 94,460 kilograms (208,246 pounds), the MD-11F carried the maximum weight of 95,140 kilograms (209,745 pounds) on a flight from Atlanta to Frankfurt, Germany, via New York.

The MD-11 freighters will play a major role in supporting Lufthansa Cargo's new "time-definite" services by providing high reliability and flexibility to the carrier's operations. Lufthansa Cargo's time-definite services promise a specific time of acceptance at origin and time of availability at destination.

Lufthansa Cargo is one of the world's leading scheduled international air freight providers, offering the most capacity of any airline on the North Atlantic route. It serves about 450 destinations worldwide.

Advantages of the MD-11 freighter include low operating costs, extended intercontinental nonstop range, lower fuel-burn per trip, unrestricted over-water operation and up to 44 percent more below-deck revenue pallet or container cargo capacity.