Air Cargo Carriers News

As overcapacity and weak demand continue to plague the global transportation industry across modes, competition for cargo has only intensified.

Air France-KLM’s cargo loss narrowed slightly in the second quarter, but the airline's cargo unit was still stuck in the red.

Japanese container trade volume will slip slightly in fiscal 2016 for the third straight year.

"The business environment is extremely difficult and there are few signs of any immediate relief.”

Lufthansa Cargo and Japan’s All Nippon Airways will extend their joint venture next month.

U.K. freight forwarders are worried that the decision to leave the European Union could threaten a much-needed expansion of Heathrow Airport.

Cargolux China aims to establish a global network.

Lufthansa Cargo, Europe’s largest all-cargo airline, said it will lay off hundreds of its 4,600-strong worldwide workforce.

Global air cargo traffic grew in April, but yields remain under pressure.

AirBridgeCargo Airlines has launched a weekly freighter service.

Rising passenger numbers lift Asia-Pacific airlines, but the sorry state of air cargo is proving to be a drag on revenue and profits.

The litigation lasted a decade and involved tens of thousands of lawyer hours, but the class-action suit against the world’s top airlines has finally drawn to a close.

Lufthansa Cargo and Cathay Pacific have signed a partnership to operate a joint network.

AirBridgeCargo traffic surged to a record high in the first quarter.

Shipments of smaller aircraft declined in the first quarter worldwide, as business demand dropped.

U.S. air cargo price-fixing lawsuit yields another settlement from a major carrier, leaving just one airline standing in the decade-long class action.

Although Amazon is not in the transportation business, FedEx, UPS and DHL can’t ignore Amazon’s competitive challenge, Satish Jindel, president of SJ Consulting Group, said.

The downside to an industry sector having a great quarter is that it places immense pressure on it to repeat the feat the following year or the comparisons will be dismal. This is where the air cargo industry finds itself after the first quarter of 2016.

ANA Holdings Inc. and Japan Airlines Corp. both increased their group net profits despite cargo weakness.

Europe’s leading air cargo carriers are continuing to post lower traffic figures month after month while their smaller rivals are still boosting their market shares.

Cargolux’s net profit surged in 2015, helped by cheaper fuel, but revenue shrank as low yields offset higher volumes.

Lufthansa Cargo remained in the black for yet another year in 2015, overcoming the damaging impact of a pilots’ strike and growing oversupply in the global air freight market, while its main European rivals sank deeper into the red.

In a long-awaited deal, Amazon announced Wednesday it has acquired a stake in the Ohio company that has been helping the e-commerce giant run its secret air cargo operation in the state since last year and has signed a five- to seven-year lease for 20 cargo planes.

Cathay Pacific’s 90 percent increase in 2015 net profit had no help from its cargo division, which after a solid first quarter saw demand for air freight largely fade away for the rest of the year.

International Airlines Group carried less cargo in 2015 than a year earlier but its freight revenue grew as it focused on strategic partnerships and premium products to offset lower rates and yields in bearish global market.

The enormous growth in China’s e-commerce market has driven up demand for domestic air express services and encouraged Boeing Co. to offer freighter conversions for its popular B737 passenger plane.

Air France-KLM narrowed its cargo loss in the fourth quarter of 2015 but its full-year deficit increased as it continued to scale back its troubled full-freighter operation.

AirBridgeCargo began 2016 on a roll with volume soaring by a record 30 percent in January, but Russia’s largest air cargo carrier cautioned it faces challenges as it expands its global network.

Capacity cuts and a pre-Chinese New Year demand for air cargo on key routes barely managed to keep Cathay Pacific’s January volumes in positive territory.

Air India and Air New Zealand are the last two defendants in a long-running antitrust litigation brought against nearly 30 providers of air cargo services, but a nasty surprise could be in store for the carriers in a trial scheduled for September.

Another multimillion-dollar settlement was reached in the long-running antitrust class action lawsuit in the U.S. that has involved most of the world’s major carriers, with Air China agreeing to pay $50 million.

Global air cargo traffic increased 2.2 percent year-over-year in 2015, less than half the 5 percent rise in 2014, due mainly to sluggish trade growth in Europe and Asia-Pacific, according to the International Air Transport Association.

ANA Holdings Inc. and Japan Airlines Corp. both saw their group net profits soar in the first nine months of the fiscal year ending March 31 on a year-over-year basis, despite lower cargo revenues.

Cargolux bucked the downward trend in Europe’s air cargo market, boosting traffic by 7.4 percent in 2015 and unveiling plans to increase its freighter fleet.

Atlas Air Worldwide Holdings’ plan to acquire competitor Southern Air Holdings will diversify the air cargo carriers’ fleet, strengthen its relationship with its biggest customer, DHL Express, and position it to grow in the U.S. and globally, according to a BB&T analyst.

Cargolux is to invest $77 million in Cargolux China, a new joint venture carrier, scheduled to start operations in 2017.

Cathay Pacific and sister carrier Dragonair handled just short of 1.8 million tons of air cargo in 2015, recording growth of 4.3 percent despite a difficult year for the air freight industry as it struggled to balance capacity supply and demand.

Lufthansa Cargo retained its top ranking among Europe’s cargo airlines in 2015 even as traffic shrank 2.4 percent from the previous year and two more freighters are being taken out of service.

The decline in global air cargo demand “may be bottoming out”, following a month-on-month increase in November traffic, according to the International Air Transportation Association.

The International Air Transport Association will urge member airlines to prepare for a possible surge in air freight volumes caused by possible disruptions when the new container weighing requirements are implemented globally from July.