Lufthansa Cargo has helped the German Red Cross cope with the influx of refugees by flying more than 15,000 camp beds from North America to Germany to deal with the crisis.
On Tuesday last week a Lufthansa Boeing 747-8 flight from Washington DC landed at the carrier’s hub in Frankfurt stocked with approximately 1,000 camp beds. The remaining beds were divided over 12 flights, which were transported to Frankfurt in the days preceding.
The carrier says it undertook the transport at cost price and the volume of cargo amounted to nearly 120 tonnes, divided between 271 pallets.
Lufthansa Cargo says the beds were desperately needed by refugees who are being looked after by the German Red Cross in emergency accommodation and were provided by both the Canadian and the American Red Cross.
Thousands of camp beds were urgently needed in Germany because all available beds in Europe are already occupied.
Lufthansa Cargo chief executive officer and chairman of the executive board, Peter Gerber, says: “We are very happy to be able to make a small contribution to the valuable work of the German Red Cross. Fast and uncomplicated help is called for in situations such as we are experiencing at the moment. It was only thanks to air transport that within a few days we managed to bring more than 15,000 camp beds to where they were so urgently needed.”
German Red Cross general secretary, Christian Reuter, explains the charity are attending more than 288 emergency accommodations for approximately 82,000 refugees in Germany.
“In addition, we will support the federal government with the provision of further shelters for refugees. In order to carry this out, rapid logistics solutions, such as we are able to implement now with Lufthansa Cargo, are indispensable,” adds Reuter.
