Air France-KLM Cargo Down on Capped Capacity

Air France-KLM carried 5.2 percent less freight in October than a year ago, as the Franco-Dutch carrier capped freighter capacity in a sharply deteriorating global air cargo market.

Capacity was up just 0.6 percent from a year ago, largely because of to an 8.8 percent cut in full freighter flights, which trimmed the load factor by 4 percentage points to 66.3 percent.

The carrier said unit revenue was down from October 2010 but didn’t put a figure on the decline.

Cargo revenue fell by 4.1 percent on 1.9 percent extra capacity on the Americas network, ending a run of positive figures that compensated for steep declines on Asia-Pacific routes in recent months.

Asia-Pacific traffic slumped 6.2 percent, following a 6.1 percent decline in September, while the previously resilient Africa-Middle East region was down 5.8 percent from a year ago.

The lower Air France cargo figure mirrors the 5.2 percent decline in British Airways October freight traffic.

Air France-KLM is due to report quarterly earnings on Wednesday, November 9.

-- Contact Bruce Barnard at brucebarnard47@hotmail.com.