Lufthansa Cargo Freight Falls in June

Lufthansa Cargo’s freight traffic fell 14.1 percent in June from a year ago, led by an even bigger slump on routes to North and South America as the global recession continued to impact Europe’s second largest cargo airline.

The decline, to 128,000 metric tons, ended a brief improvement recorded in May when shipments fell 9.1 percent year-on-year. Lufthansa’s numbers also contrast with more stable conditions reported by Lufthansa’s close rivals, Air France-KLM and British Airways.

The drop in June volume left traffic in the first six months of the year down 20.1 percent from the same period in 2008 at 694,000 metric tons.

Lufthansa cut capacity 10.4 percent from June 2008 resulting it its load factor, or capacity utilization, slipping 4.2 percentage points to 63.1 percent. Cargo revenues shrunk 15.9 percent from a year ago.

The Lufthansa group, including Swiss World Cargo, reported June shipments down 14.3 percent at 144,000 metric tons and 19.8 percent off in the first six months at 788,000 metric tons. The load factor slid 4.2 percentage points to 60 percent.

Traffic on the Americas network collapsed 20.8 percent in June to 38,000 metric tons while Asia/Pacific shipments were down 17 percent at 39,000 metric tons.

Middle East/Africa volume rose six percent to 15,000 metric tons, leaving six months traffic unchanged at 83,000 metric tons.

Contact Bruce Barnard at brucebarnard47@hotmail.com.