KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 22): AirAsia Group Bhd's wholly-owned cargo and logistics subsidiary Teleport has signed a direct interline agreement with Lufthansa Cargo AG under which Teleport customers will gain access to Lufthansa Cargo space on Lufthansa flights.

AirAsia said yesterday in a statement that the long-term partnership aims to open up more than 300 destinations in 100 countries for Teleport customers while Lufthansa Cargo customers will have access to AirAsia's network of over 150 destinations in the Asia Pacific.

Teleport CEO Pete Chareonwongsak said in the statement: "This partnership provides global reach and market access for customers across Asean and Europe, and will spur the growth of trade and e-commerce fulfilment in key production and consumer markets. We look forward to working with Lufthansa Cargo to synergise our efforts in growing this strategic partnership."

According to AirAsia's statement, Teleport is constantly looking to build direct partnerships with other airlines to enable seamless movement of cargo and e-commerce globally.

Lufthansa Cargo Asia Pacific vice president J Florian Pfaff said in the statement the interline partnership will provide Lufthansa Cargo customers with stable and reliable shipping solutions to the Lufthansa worldwide network.

"We are confident that this partnership will strengthen our market presence in markets where Lufthansa is currently not serving," Pfaff said.

At Bursa Malaysia today, AirAsia Group's share price rose one sen or 0.56% to RM1.79 at 11:52am. The stock saw 786,000 shares transacted.