Bruce Barnard, Special Correspondent | May 11, 2012 9:49AM EDT
Lufthansa Cargo carried 10.5 percent less freight in April than a year ago as it continued to slash capacity in response to softening global demand and soaring fuel prices.
The sharp decline in traffic to 144,000 metric tons that reduced cargo revenue by 11.1 percent was largely due to a 9.8 percent reduction in capacity, which trimmed the load factor by just one percentage point to 67.3 percent.
April traffic was also down sharply from the 160,000 tons transported in March.
“Tight capacity management was again the watchword,” Lufthansa Cargo said in a statement.
Lufthansa Cargo booked an operating profit of 19 million Euros ($24.7 million) in the first quarter against $83.2 million profit a year ago. By contrast, its close rival AirFrance-KLM saw losses at its cargo unit widen to $88.4 million from $11.7 million.
The Lufthansa group, which includes Swiss WorldCargo, reported an 8.8 percent decline in cargo traffic in April to 164,000 tons on a 7.5 percent reduction in capacity, which cut the load factor by one percentage point to 64.9 percent.
Traffic on the Americas network was down 9.1 percent at 50,000 tons and Asia/Pacific shipments were 6.9 percent lower at 46,000 tons.
Air France-KLM’s cargo revenue shrunk 8.3 percent in April from a year ago on a 3.3 percent reduction in capacity.
International Airlines Group, the merged British Airways-Iberia carrier, reported April traffic was down 2.3 percent on 1.7 percent less capacity. BA was unchanged from a year ago but its Spanish partner saw traffic tumble 11.1 percent.
IAG today said its first quarter operating loss more than doubled to $323.7 million from $132.6 million last year but it did not break out figures for its cargo business.
Contact Bruce Barnard at brucebarnard47@hotmail.com.