(Bloomberg) -- Germany’s national postal carrier Deutsche Post AG has stopped using aeroplanes to transport letters domestically, a step that will reduce CO2 emissions as use of letter mail dwindles.
The last overnight flights by Deutsche Lufthansa AG’s Eurowings unit and Tui Fly carrying letters to and from northern and southern Germany took place in the early hours of March 28, Deutsche Post said in a statement on Thursday. It marks the end of 63 years of overnight airmail service launched in 1961, when letters and telegrams dominated written communications.
“In times of climate change, airmail for domestic letters within Germany can no longer be justified, also because there is no longer the same urgency associated with letter mail as in decades past,” Marc Hitschfeld, chief operations officer of the company’s domestic post and parcels business, said. In the future, letter mail in Germany will be transported exclusively via road, lowering CO2-emissions on the routes by more than 80%, the company said.
It comes as the German government prepares to introduce legislation that no longer stipulates that Deutsche Post must deliver at least 80% of letters on the next working day after being mailed. Under the new rules, the company will have to deliver 95% of letters within three working days.
(Corrects number of years in headline in story first published March 28)
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