Lufthansa’s cargo division said it’s seeking more freighter planes to keep pace with booming global demand and that purchases could include Airbus’s new A350F model. Lufthansa Cargo is making the case at group level for adding more single-aisle and wide-body planes, including additional Boeing 777F freighters to ply long-haul routes, unit chief Dorothea von Boxberg said. “The group sees how strong we are and how profitable this market is at the moment,” she said, adding that Lufthansa will hold talks with Airbus on the A350F freighter “to see what operational benefits it would bring and how cost effective the whole package would be.” Air-cargo demand has reached record levels during the coronavirus pandemic, fueled by disruption to international shipping routes as supply lines fracture and containers stack up in the wrong place, together with a shift to more time-sensitive online shopping that’s expected to persist beyond the crisis. Lufthansa Cargo has become the airline’s best-performing division, contributing almost E1b in earnings in the first nine months of 2021 and helping to staunch a cash drain that threatened to tip Europe’s biggest airline group into bankruptcy.<br/>
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Air New Zealand has resumed flights to Fiji since the country reopened its borders to international travellers on December 1. Air NZ's first commercial flight to Fiji amid the Covid-19 pandemic arrived in Nadi last week. Chris Chand, of Fiji Airports, said the flight from Auckland carried repatriated Fijians and tourists. With New Zealand's borders closed to Fiji, customer loads have been understandably quite low, the airline said in a statement. "We have been operating one return Nadi flight per week through the pandemic which has been mostly cargo into Nadi," he said. "Out of Nadi, we have been operating with customers and cargo and although passenger loads have been light we have seen good demand for cargo. We're looking forward to welcoming more customers on to these flights as the New Zealand border restrictions ease and we will be gradually increasing capacity from February 4. We will continue to monitor demand and adjust the schedule where possible." Air New Zealand said it was pleased to see high demand for Cook Islands' travel from January 14 when the border to Rarotonga reopens.<br/>