Bruce Barnard | Sep 07, 2011 9:38AM EDT
Air France-KLM’s cargo traffic fell 0.2 percent in August, as gains on Americas services were outweighed by lower volume on Asia-Pacific routes.
The decline in traffic was against a 2.8 percent increase in capacity, clipping the load factor by 1.9 percentage points to 62.5 percent. Unit revenue per ton of cargo, excluding currency movements, increased “slightly” year-over-year, Europe’s third largest freight carrier said.
Cargo revenue grew 1.1 percent on the Americas network on a 4.4 percent increase in capacity, which left the load factor two points lower at 62.5 percent. Asia-Pacific revenue fell 2.5 percent from a year ago on 4.6 percent more capacity, resulting in a 5.3 points decline in the load factor to 72.4 percent.
The airline this week announced a new round of cost cuts, including a hiring freeze and deeper capacity reduction. The carrier will cut more capacity in the coming winter season and the next summer season, which will reduce the cargo belly space on its passenger services.
Meanwhile, International Airlines Group, the merged British Airways-Iberia carrier, transported 2 percent less freight than in August 2010 on a 2.3 percent increase in capacity. Cargo revenue rose, however, by 1.2 percent. Spain’s Iberia boosted traffic by 1 percent while BA’s tonnage was down 2.8 percent.
-- Contact Bruce Barnard at brucebarnard47@hotmail.com.
