The business concept

The airline was founded to operate all-cargo ad hoc and sub-charter flights and the first years of operation proved that there was a need for the type of service that Cargolux was offering to its customers.

In the early 1970s, air charter became more and more recognized as a serious and justified means of transportation. Its advantage was that it could meet a special demand that could often not be offered by scheduled carriers: flexibility, adoption of special transports requirements, and a tailored service to the individual charter requirement. The scheduled carriers could not divert to pick up an urgent load, as most of the scheduled carriers where mainly passenger operators and cargo was just something that airlines put in the belly holds unoccupied by luggage.

The sales efforts undertaken by the company during the first years proved successful. Cargolux maintained and coordinated its sales activities from its headquarters in Luxembourg and the response and cooperation obtained from brokers and agents worldwide were remarkable. In the first years of operation, Cargolux flew a large amount of charters to and from the Far East. Although the ad hoc flights were Cargolux’s the main activities, the Far East services were all carried out as charters – split charters as well as full charters. During the first half of 1972, the Far East service had successfully increased in tonnage carried and the company introduced regular charter flights between Luxembourg and Hong Kong, the latter becoming a primary destination in the continued development of the company.