Air France-KLM Cargo Volume Tumbles

Air France-KLM, Europe’s biggest cargo airline, reported freight traffic shrunk 19.1 percent in October from a year ago, led by a slump in shipments in its Asia/Pacific network.

But the Franco-Dutch carrier slashed capacity by 19.4 percent from October 2008 which helped boost its load factor, or portion of cargo space sold, by 0.3 percentage points to 67.7 percent.

Traffic on Asia/Pacific routes was down 27.7 percent on a 32.7 percent reduction in capacity, while volume in the Americas fell 13.4 percent on 12.1 percent less capacity.

Air France-KLM trimmed capacity for the winter season, which began on Oct. 25, by a further 15 percent, achieved by grounding six 747 freighters. It has also deferred delivery of two 777 freighters from 2009 to between 2010 and 2012.

Passenger traffic fell 4.1 percent in October but a 5.6 percent reduction in capacity boosted the load factor by 1.3 points to 82.5 percent, driven by gains in the Americas network.

“Although unit revenues remained under pressure, they recorded a lesser decline,” the carrier said.

Contact Bruce Barnard at brucebarnard47@hotmail.com.