On September 13th, as a specially modified Boeing 777F all-cargo plane arrived in Beijing, the BMW Group in partnership with Lufthansa Cargo AG officially presented the BMW Vision iNEXT World Flight at its last stop before returning to Germany.

In a hangar at Ameco Beijing, I had the pleasure to board this specially designed freighter with remarkable efficiency, which did not only witness the future mobility concept of BMW Vision iNEXT for the first time, but was also extremely impressed by the efficient changeover between "presentation mode" and "flight mode" with perfect presentation on all fine details.

According to Lufthansa Cargo, preparations for the presentation event involved laying more than 7.5 km of wiring, while 78,000 LEDs in 165 video LED modules and ten 13,000 ANSI lumen projectors lighted up a show inside the Boeing freighter that appeals to all the senses.

Meanwhile, more than 120 specialists in exhibition stand construction, as well as experts from Lufthansa Cargo and the BMW Group have played their part in the project. Around 30 tonnes of material had been used to construct a suitable platform on which to showcase the BMW Vision iNEXT.

In this regard, Mr. Frank Naeve, Vice President Asia Pacific at Lufthansa Cargo, who witnessed the event in Beijing, was also deeply motivated. He thought that a brand new car being showcased on a plane and took place in several destinations around the world within just a few days, these factors presented unprecedented challenges to all team members in the project presented unprecedented challenges, but they eventually staged a presentation the likes of which none of those present have witnessed before, but also ensured their creation could literally "take off".

I took this opportunity to interview Mr. Frank Naeve about the development of Lufthansa Cargo's business in China.

Frank said: "Just a few months ago, Lufthansa Cargo opened a regular scheduled cargo service between Frankfurt and Chengdu. This route has not only further expanded our cargo network, but also enables us to contribute more to the prosperous and growing market in central and western parts of the country, while supports the strengthening of our market position in China. I am very happy because the operation of this route has been very good, exceeding our expectations."

Frank indicated that Lufthansa Cargo's business development in China has been growing promisingly, and China has already leapt to become the second largest market for the company. At present, Lufthansa Cargo has five freighter destinations, namely Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Hong Kong and Chengdu. It also offers bellyhold capacities of Lufthansa and Austrian Airlines passenger services to Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Nanjing, Qingdao and Shenyang.

In addition, the reporter also learned that Lufthansa Cargo's service support capability is notably broad and comprehensive, not only the vast experience of transporting special goods such as the likes of BMW Vision iNEXT concept car, or previously China's national treasure Pandas, but also large quantities of items requiring special or additional care such as high-value precision instruments, pharmaceutical items, flowers and fresh agricultural by-products, live animals, expensive cars, equipment and so on. Frank confidently told reporter that as long as the goods can be loaded into the cargo hold, and it is safe enough for air transport, then Lufthansa Cargo is capable of helping its customers.

Finally, Frank stated: "We are very pleased to see that the variety of goods shipped in the Chinese market is becoming increasingly diverse, whether they are common items such as electronic products, daily necessities etc., or the booming e-commerce parcels, as well as some of the special goods mentioned earlier, while more and more Chinese customers are now choosing efficient air cargo transport over others. Moreover, the business of Chinese customers are rapidly expanding to every corner of the world. They are no longer confined to transport goods to Europe via Lufthansa Cargo, but their goods are being transported worldwide through our extensive global route network."

According to statistics, Lufthansa Cargo has been in the Chinese market for over 20 years, and its total volume of goods entering and leaving China in 2017 has reached 240,000 tons. Meanwhile, Shanghai is Lufthansa Cargo's largest cargo station in China. Since last year, the frequency of Lufthansa Cargo freighters departing from Shanghai has increased from 7 flights per week to 11 flights per week.