The news that Germany intends to expand its own hub in Frankfurt has electrified Polish public opinion. Naturally, questions arise about the future of the Polish CPK, especially since subsequent reports indicate that Lufthansa Cargo is entering the Polish market with even greater force. Meanwhile, the website of the daily “Handelsblatt” gives new details about the German carrier’s investment in the modernization of the hub at Frankfurt am Main airport. It will be even more expensive than originally planned, we read. And on the sidelines of this topic, Maciej Lasek spoke.
Frankfurt Investment Details
Lufthansa Cargo reports that the investment value will reach almost 600 million euros, which is around 100 million euros more than reported in the Lufthansa group report for 2023. The company spokesperson justified this with “a sharp increase in material costs, especially steel.”
The cargo hub, which began operations in 1982, is scheduled to be completely renovated in parts by 2030. The Lufthansa Group originally planned to completely rebuild the cargo terminal, but in 2016 it abandoned this €1.3 billion plan.
This investment is a clear commitment to our base in Frankfurt.
said Ashwin Bhat, head of Lufthansa Cargo, during the presentation of the project on Thursday.
We celebrate the next step in our vision
– he added.
“Vision – that is, the goal to remain one of the world’s leading providers of air freight logistics and the industry’s fastest growing provider,” wrote “Handelsblatt”. The 42-meter-high vertical warehouse will be fully automated and will have twice the capacity of the existing freight center.
Handling almost 2 million tons of cargo annually, Frankfurt is Germany’s largest cargo airport, ahead of Leipzig-Halle. About a quarter of the cargo is transported by passenger aircraft. However, the majority is loaded onto special cargo planes.
Lufthansa has high hopes for cargo transport. Currently, 18 Boeing 777s and four Airbus A321s fly for Lufthansa Cargo. This number will soon increase to 25 Boeing 777s. The group’s cargo transport division employs 4,100 people, of whom 2,800 are in Frankfurt alone, Handelsblatt reported.
“Nothing will harm German interests.”
It is recalled that Lufthansa Cargo’s director for Central and Eastern Europe, Wojciech Ryglewicz, said that the company plans to “operate at least 2-3 times a week” between Frankfurt and Warsaw and Frankfurt and Katowice. “This will allow us to transport goods to and from Poland much faster,” he told wmp.pl.
The Germans waited a bit, and when they saw that the Tusk government had actually implemented the CPK project, they began to expand their own hub in Frankfurt. At the same time, they do not even hide the fact that their goal is to take over most of the air cargo traffic to Poland. Now they can, now they are sure that nothing will harm German interests.
– commented, among others: former Prime Minister Beata Szydło.
Are you serious? Would you like to build a CPK based on the existing airport? Which one? Modlin? Lodz? Chopin? So as not to plan a green field? Unfortunately, my hands are falling apart
– Michał Czarnik, vice-president of the “Yes to CPK” Association, replied to him
I just noticed this intellectual greenfield. The whole thread is worth reading
— PiS MP Marcin Horała, the former plenipotentiary of the CPK in Mateusz Morawiecki’s government, also reacted.
There are many other comments about Minister Lasek’s entry and attitude.
They don’t want to build the CPK. Beautiful words at a press conference are broken by a few words of truth that escape them from time to time.
Do you even know where you work? On the official #CPK website there is an extensive explanation of why the new airport could not be based on the existing one. It’s a shame you didn’t have time to get to know yourself last semester, Mr. Plenipotentiary… 🫠
Hopefully, Mr. Lasek will support his neighbors and hold off CPK while Frankfurt consolidates its new position on Europe’s cargo map. You have to help each other out.
