Lufthansa Cargo Volume Surges 18.6 Percent

Lufthansa Cargo carried 18.6 percent more cargo in January than a year ago even as it slashed the number of freighter flights by a quarter.

The German all-cargo airline, which carried 114,000 metric tons of freight last month, attributed the gain mainly to sharply higher imports from Asia to Europe for the second month running.

Cargo revenue soared 20.8 percent from January 2008 on a 5.5 percent reduction in capacity, which boosted the load factor by 14.8 percentage points to 67.8 percent.

The parent Lufthansa group, which also includes Swiss, the UK carrier BMI and Austrian Airlines, increased cargo volume by 17.2 percent to 131,000 metric tons and boosted sales by 26.5 percent. Capacity was down 1.1 percent while the load factor gained 14.1 points to 64.5 percent.

Lufthansa outpaced its closest European rivals Air France-KLM and British Airways, which increased cargo volumes by 2 percent and 6.5 percent respectively in January.

The cargo division also outperformed Lufthansa’s passenger unit, which boosted traffic by just 0.6 percent to 4.8 million passengers in January.

Lufthansa’s strong January cargo figures follow a 20.7 percent year-on-year increase in December to 138,000 metric tons, which took full year volume to 1.52 million metric tons, down 10.5 percent from 2008.

Asia-Pacific traffic jumped 30.4 percent in January to 37,000 metric tons while revenue climbed 31.7 percent and the load factor improved by 22.4 points to 72.4 percent.

Americas volume rose 20.9 percent to 38,000 metric tons; revenue was up 23.6 percent and the load factor was 11.9 points higher at 65.8 percent.

Contact Bruce Barnard at brucebarnard47@hotmail.com.