Air France-KLM Cargo Growth Slows

The cargo expansion at Air France-KLM slowed down sharply in July as freight traffic inched up 1.7 percent from a year ago and slipped 3.5 percent from the month before, the European carrier group reported Friday.

The July total included a 3 percent decline in Asia-Pacific cargo traffic, the carrier group’s largest trade region.

Air France-KLM scaled back cargo capacity from last year 2.1 percent, but the carrier’s capacity is still growing on a month-to-month basis and July cargo capacity was 5.8 percent ahead of June, bringing the cargo load factor down 1.5 percentage points to 66.2 percent.

By The Numbers: European Airlines' Freight Traffic.

For the year to date, Air France-KLM has carried 3.788 billion revenue ton kilometers of cargo, up 7.6 percent from a year ago. Capacity is down 1.6 percent compared with the first seven months of last year, driving the load factor up 5.8 percentage points to 68.7 percent.