Lufthansa Cargo transports 800 tonnes of red roses for Valentine’s Day

February 13, 2018:  Roses are the most sought-after flower during the second week of February when the world celebrates the Valentine’s Day. To ensure people declare their affection with the scent of the long-stemmed symbol of love, Lufthansa Cargo is currently flying entire freighters filled with roses. All in all, this year, Lufthansa’s cargo will transport 800 tonnes of these delicate goods. This equates to around the load capacity of eleven flights with MD-11 freighters.

Lufthansa Cargo connects the flower-growing countries with the Frankfurt hub several times a week. Europe’s leading cargo airline has developed the special fresh product and equipped its freighters with state-of-the-art technology specifically for the transportation of perishable goods such as flowers and food.

In order for the flowery love greetings to reach their recipient in full splendour, it is important that they are transported quickly and carefully at a constant temperature of two to four degrees Celsius throughout the journey.  

The roses once harvested are immediately placed in water and cooled. Following sorting and packing, the flowers are taken directly to the airport and loaded onto the Lufthansa aircrafts, where they are kept at temperature controlled environment. A few hours after landing, they are transported onwards from this city on the Main River into the hands of lovers all across Europe.

Usually, the journey of the ‘Queen of Flowers’ starts either in Kenya or South America as these countries have the ideal climatic conditions through the year for growing flowers.