Lufthansa Cargo Tumbles 26.7 Percent

Lufthansa Cargo's freight traffic fell 26.7 percent in April from a year ago as slumping German exports triggered further steep declines on its key Asia/Pacific and Americas routes.

The German carrier's cargo volume fell to 113,000 tonnes from 154,000 tonnes in April 2008, leaving traffic for the first four months down 24.3 percent from the year-earlier period at 441,000 tonnes.

The global recession has hit Lufthansa Cargo harder than its close rivals Air France-KLM and British Airways because of its reliance on German exports.

Air France-KLM's freight traffic fell 22.7 percent in April, but including Martinair, its cargo and charter unit that was consolidated in January, volume was down by only 6.4 percent.

British Airways cargo declined 14.8 percent last month, but its load factor, or capacity utilization, was unchanged at 71.4 percent, well above Lufthansa and Air France-KLM.

Lufthansa Cargo's load factor fell 9.7 percent to 59 percent despite a 16.6 percent cut in capacity, partly achieved by grounding four MD-11 freighters. Air France-KLM's load factor, including Martinair, fell 6.1 points to 61.4 percent.

The Lufthansa group's overall freight traffic, including Swiss World Cargo, slumped 26 percent in April from a year ago to 128,000 tonnes and was down 23.4 percent in the first four months at 503,000 tonnes.

North and South America were hardest hit with traffic crashing 35.8 percent to 32,000 tonnes while Asia/Pacific shipments fell 25.6 percent to 35,000 tonnes. The Middle East/Africa network continued to buck the trend with cargo down just 3.5 percent in April at 14,000 tonnes.

The Lufthansa group's cargo load factor declined 10.5 points to 55.6 percent.

Contact Bruce Barnard at brucebarnard47@hotmail.com.