|
Cargo alliance announces second joint
service product and new brand name.
Frankfurt / Copenhagen / Singapore,
March 14 2002 – Lufthansa Cargo, SAS Cargo and Singapore Airlines
Cargo announce that from April 1 they will offer a joint general
cargo service through their WOW alliance. WOW, the new brand
name for the “New Global Cargo” alliance, will be launched
in the international trade media in a campaign also starting
in April.
Dr. Andreas Otto, Member of the Board
at Lufthansa Cargo, said the new brand name would give customers
a clear understanding of the alliance’s goals: “With WOW,
we have found a name that sets new accents in the industry.
Not only is WOW innovative, dynamic and original, it also
serves as a mission statement. ‘Wow !’ is exactly the reaction
we aim to elicit from our customers in response to our services.”
From April 1, the alliance carriers’
general cargo products – “td.Pro” from Lufthansa Cargo and
“General Cargo” from Singapore Airlines Cargo and SAS Cargo
– can be booked at the reservation centrecentre of a single
carriers of the first carrier any of the three partners to
any destinations in the combined network.
The general cargo service will be built
on product and service standards under the motto “Seamless,
Safety and Control”, and will offer a time-definite guarantee
for transport and delivery.
The general cargo product names used
by each carrier will be retained, as was the case when the
partners launched their joint express product on October 1,
2001. That enabled customers to book the premium express services
– “td.Flash” from Lufthansa Cargo, “SAS Priority” from SAS
Cargo and “Swiftrider” from Singapore Airlines Cargo – to
any point in the alliance’s worldwide express network. The
harmonized express service is backed by commona connected
IT infrastructure as well as common standards and handling
processes to ensure consistency and reliability.
“We have every reason to believe our
joint general cargo service will be just as well received
as was the joint premium express service last year,” said
President of Singapore Airlines Cargo, Mr. Hwang Teng Aun.
“Our strategy of coordinating product guarantees, handling,
IT and sales structures bears this out.”
The growing portfolio of joint products
enhances the alliance’s commitment to its aim of “Three Products
– One GuaranteePromise”. Peter Grfnlund,Grønlund, President
and CEO of the SAS Cargo Group, said the synergies that the
partners have achieved are crucial to the alliance’s success:
“We’re proud of advancing a stage nearer to our aim of a harmonized
portfolio with the launch of our general cargo service. Preparations
for harmonizing even more of our products are already underway.
This approach will help us to betterenable us to meet our
customers’ increasing need for flexibility and globality.”global
services.”
The three Cargo carriers laid the foundations
for their alliance by signing an accord to cooperate in airfreight
at Kronberg, near Frankfurt, on April 26 2000. Lufthansa Cargo
is the world’s biggest, and Singapore Airlines Cargo the world’s
third biggest airfreight airline. SAS Cargo is a dominant
player, especially in Scandinavia.
Together, the three partners earned
more than $US3.7 billion in 2000 from cargo, transporting
14.7 billion freight-tonne-kilometres. They offer customers
access to all major markets in Asia, ScandinavaiaSouth West
PacificAustralia, North America and Northern Europe, serving
493 destinations in 103 countries on 5 continents. The alliance
commands a fleet of more than 630 dedicated freighters, as
well as access to the bellyhold capacity of more than 600
passenger aircraft, many of them widebodied jets. Between
them, the alliance carriers employ more than 7,000 staff.people.
NEWS
|