Lufthansa Cargo in mid-June will start selling cargo capacity and handling shipments on ITA Airways, the Italian carrier in which Deutsche Lufthansa AG acquired a 41% stake in January for nearly $350 million.

The deal allows Lufthansa Cargo to make Rome its cargo hub for Southern Europe.

Lufthansa’s cargo subsidiary will start marketing ITA cargo capacity under its own designated airway bill from Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, as well as from Buenos Aires, Argentina, to Rome, on June 16, according to a news release on Monday. On all other routes, both airlines will initially operate under two separate airway bill numbers. Lufthansa Cargo will gradually take over the sale of ITA’s belly space on all routes, following necessary regulatory approvals.

The addition of ITA will increase global belly capacity available to Lufthansa Cargo customers by almost 20%, while giving them an even denser network of city pairs to choose from, the company said.

Lufthansa Cargo operates 12 Boeing 777 long-haul cargo jets and four Airbus A321 converted freighters in regional service. It received a new freighter from Boeing during the first quarter. An additional six aircraft are chartered from AeroLogic, a joint venture with DHL, and operated by AeroLogic on behalf of Lufthansa Cargo. Lufthansa Cargo also manages the belly cargo for Lufthansa Group’s passenger airlines, with the exception of Swiss International.

“Along with our partner ITA Airways, we are excited to offer our customers even more attractive routes, additional capacities and solutions to and from Europe as well as worldwide to meet their transportation needs. … In addition to Frankfurt, Munich, Vienna and Brussels, Rome will be our 5th hub that will help us offer flexible and quality solutions to our customers. Our customers will benefit from even more reliable, faster connections to and from southern Europe,” said Lufthansa Cargo CEO Ashwin Bhat.

Lufthansa Group has expressed interest in increasing its share of ITA Airways. The Italian government is the airline’s majority shareholder. ITA has a fleet of 99 aircraft, including 22 long-haul Airbus jets, and flies to 70 destinations around the world.

Last week, Lufthansa Group made changes to Cargo’s executive leadership, moving Frank Bauer from chief financial officer and labor director to chief operating officer and installing Gregor Schleussner, currently head of finance, controlling and accounting at sister airline Eurowings, as CFO and chief human resources officer, effective July 1.

Lufthansa Cargo’s revenue grew 21% year over year in the first quarter to $938.8 million, while adjusted earnings before interest and taxes increased to $70 million from a $24 million loss, thanks to increased yields, strong demand from China and lower costs.

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