Lufthansa Cargo (LH, Frankfurt International) has taken the government of the Netherlands to court over a traffic rights row that started in March 2012 when the Dutch transport ministry had withdrawn Lufthansa Cargo's traffic rights for flights between Aguadilla and Amsterdam Schiphol. A final ruling by a court in Den Haag is now due soon. According to Airliners.de, the Dutch transport ministry argues that Lufthansa Cargo would only use Aguadilla as a transit stop for its cargo flights from Latin America to Europe while Lufthansa Cargo argues that it would need to be allocated full traffic rights between Puerto Rico and Europe as part of the EU-US open skies agreement. Lufthansa Cargo currently operates three weekly flights from Aguadilla to Frankfurt International that originate in Bogotá and Quito International. Cargolux (CV, Luxembourg) currently operates a weekly service from Bogota via Aguadilla to Maastricht while Martinair (Netherlands) (MP, Amsterdam Schiphol) operates seven weekly flights from Bogota via Aguadilla to Amsterdam Schiphol. All of these flights mainly carry flowers from Latin America to the Netherlands.
Lufthansa Cargo in legal battle with Netherlands over traffic rights
Lufthansa Cargo Boeing 777-F,
© Lufthansa Cargo