Air France-KLM Cargo Tumbled in March

London - Air France-KLM, Europe's biggest scheduled cargo carrier, reported freight traffic tumbled 19.2 percent in March from a year ago, nearly double the decline at close rival British Airways.

The plunge in traffic outpaced an 8.9 percent cut in capacity, excluding Martinair, the Dutch all-cargo and charter carrier that was consolidated in January.

This was the fourth month in a row that Air France-KLM's cargo traffic has fallen by around 20 percent.

Including Martinair, Air France-KLM's overall traffic rose 1.3 percent on a 12.3 percent increase in capacity from March 2008.

The cargo load factor, or capacity utilization, excluding Martinair, fell 7.8 points to 61.4 percent. Including Martinair, the load factor dropped 6.8 points to 62.5 percent.

The Americas region reported a 15.5 percent rise in volume compared with a 14.6 percent decline on Asia/Pacific routes, again reflecting the contribution of Martinair, which has a strong presence in the region. Middle East/Africa shipments also bucked the trend, gaining 32.1 percent on March 2008 and almost matching a 35.6 percent increase in capacity.

British Airways reported cargo traffic fell 10 percent in March, a marked improvement on declines of 18.5 percent and 20.7 percent in January and February respectively.

Separately, BA World Cargo announced the launch of a second weekly freighter service to Chicago in response to increased demand. The additional Boeing 747-400F service operates on a London Stansted-Frankfurt-Chicago-Atlanta route.