JOC Staff | Jan 10, 2013 9:43AM EST
Lufthansa Cargo closed 2012 with traffic down 8.5 percent from the previous year, but the German carrier’s utilization of its freighter fleet was unchanged as it slashed capacity in line with sharply lower demand in the global air cargo market.
The carrier, which hauled just over 1.7 million tons of freight last year, trimmed capacity by more than 8 percent, driving a slight increase in its load factor to 69.6 percent.
Lufthansa cut capacity by 10.9 percent in December when traffic plunged 11 percent from a year ago to 134,000 tons and revenue declined by nine percent.
“We had to contend with an extremely difficult market environment in 2012. So we focused firmly on capacity utilization and the profitability of our freighter routes,” Lufthansa Cargo Chairman and CEO Karl Ulrich Garnadt said.
“Despite the necessary capacity cuts, we further developed our customer services and brought new destinations, such as Detroit, Montevideo and Tel Aviv, into the route network.”
“We can see green shoots of economic recovery in key air freight markets,” and Lufthansa will respond by rapidly increasing capacity, Garnadt said.
