Trying to avoid the cost of giving the business to an Antonov-operating competitor, Lufthansa Cargo Charter manged to spread the load and length with a custom designed cradle 10.2 meters long and 2.42 meters wide. And taking a leaf out of the Egyptian pyramid-builders instruction manual, a frame was built up to the height of the aircraft and the cradle plus shaft was hoisted and then pushed through the nose.

When the aircraft arrived in Seoul, the handlers faced a different problem - how to get it out without crushing the nose undercarriage. So a small tractor was loaded through the rear cargo door and pushed the cradle out where it could be grabbed by two cranes and highloaders.

“Make the virtually impossible possible" commented Christian Fink, Managing Director of Lufthansa's charter agency.

Meanwhile, Lufthansa Cargo reports a 20.1 percent drop in cargo carriage for the first six months of 2009 compared to first half of 2008. The overall cargo load factor fell to 59.2 percent from 68.2 percent. Total carriage of freight and mail for the period was 694,000 tonnes.

Despite the downturn, the company begins a weekly service from Frankfurt via DFW to Guadalajara (GDL), Mexico with an MD11 freighter this month. Guadalajara is colloquially known as Mexico's "Silicon Valley".