## 4 Case Study Results
### The Core Elements of AeroLogic's Business Model
#### 4.4.3 AeroLogic's Route Network  
An airline's network design is the most important attribute of its product offering [147] as it is the primary driver for generating an airline's revenues and costs. Network design is also a source of competitive strength or weakness for an airline [148] (p. 29). A further principal benefit for an all-cargo airline is its ability to offer customers flight schedules attuned to the requirements of customers [149]. AeroLogic's network and operations are planned around both the JV partner's discrete requirements with the available air cargo capacity being used by the two partners. The airline operates express services for DHL during weekdays, and switches to the carriage of general air cargo flights for Lufthansa Cargo at weekends. The two partners are responsible for all sales- and warehousing-related activities and continue to market and sell their air cargo capacities on the AeroLogic services separately [123]. During the 2009/2010 summer schedule AeroLogic served the DHL Express destinations of Bahrain, Delhi, East Midlands, Sharjah, and Singapore. Whilst Lufthansa Cargo supplemented their own capacity by deploying the AeroLogic Boeing B777-200 LRF freighter aircraft on a Leipzig-Tashkent-Hong Kong-Tashkent-Leipzig routing and from Frankfurt to Atlanta and Chicago services on weekends (Figure 3). On 30 July 2009, AeroLogic increased its Leipzig-Bahrain-Singapore-New Delhi Leipzig services from four to ten weekly services [151]. Following the delivery of two additional Boeing B777-200 LRF freighter aircraft in December 2009, the company announced a further expansion of its services  
Figure 3: The AeroLogic route network: Winter 2009/2010 schedule. Legend: ATL–Atlanta; BAH–Bahrain; DEL–Delhi; EMA–East Midlands; FRA–Frankfurt; HKG–Hong Kong; LEJ–Leipzig/Halle Airport; ORD–Chicago; SFJ–Sharjah; SIN–Singapore; TAS-Tashkent. Source: [150]. effective the 14 January 2010, with the introduction of new daily flights from Leipzig to Hong Kong, four flights operating non-stop, and new direct weekend flights operating from Frankfurt to Atlanta and Chicago [152]. Services to the Emirate of Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates commenced in May 2010, with AeroLogic operating four days per week from Leipzig to Hong Kong to Sharjah and returning to Leipzig, as well as a weekly service from Frankfurt to Sharjah to Hong Kong and returning to Frankfurt [153]. Following the addition of a fifth B777-200 LRF aircraft to the carrier's fleet in July 2010, the airline introduced twice-weekly weekday flights out of Leipzig to Shanghai's Pudong International Airport and Incheon International Airport in South Korea for DHL Express and a weekend flight to the same Asian points out of Lufthansa's Frankfurt hub, via Almaty, Kazakhstan [154]. In order to increase connectivity between Europe, the Middle East and Asia Pacific in October 2010 AeroLogic added three new flights: Hong-Kong to Leipzig, Leipzig to Bangkok, and Brussels to Bahrain [155]. An 'earlybird' connection from Hong Kong enabled DHL Express to offer a westbound next-day delivery service from one of the world's most important markets. The inclusion of the Bangkok stop on the airline's Leipzig/Singapore/Delhi route improved speed of delivery to the important Southeast Asian market. The new Brussels to Bahrain service added to the Leipzig to Bahrain connection and enhanced DHL's ability to serve a high-demand trade lane that connects both European and North American markets to the Middle East [156]. As at October 2010, AeroLogic's fleet of seven Boeing 777-200 LRF aircraft was operating 107 weekly flights to 16 destinations in three major regions worldwide. In addition to the flights operated from its hub at Leipzig/Halle Airport, several flights also operated from Frankfurt, Brussels and East Midlands Airport in the United Kingdom.