Bruce Barnard | Sep 09, 2011 11:20AM EDT
Lufthansa Cargo carried 3.6 percent less freight in August than a year ago, confirming the downturn in the global market that cut traffic at its main European rivals, Air France-KLM and the British Airways-Iberia group.
The German all-cargo carrier transported 149,000 tons of freight and mail in August, taking traffic for the first eight months of the year to 1.26 million metric tons, up 10.2 percent on the same period in 2010.
Cargo revenue dipped by a smaller 1.9 percent on a 2.4 percent cut in capacity, which boosted the load factor by 0.3 percentage points to 68.6 percent.
The Lufthansa group, which includes Swiss World Cargo, Austrian Airlines and the UK’s BMI, saw freight traffic shrink by 3.5 percent to 167,000 metric tons. Revenue was 2.2 percent lower on 1.1 percent less capacity, while the load factor dipped 0.7 points to 64.9 percent.
The Americas was the only region that boosted traffic, by 0.4 percent to 52,000 tons, while Asia-Pacific was down 3.8 percent at 48,000 tons.
Air France-KLM’s cargo traffic declined 0.2 percent year-over- year in August and IAG, the merged BA-Iberia carrier, carried 2 percent less freight.
-- Contact Bruce Barnard at brucebarnard47@hotmail.com.