Lufthansa freight up by 0.5 per cent

0
239


Airfreight volumes were stable at Lufthansa Cargo in the first half of 2015 and the carrier says it is a, “challenging market environment”.

In the first six months of this year, the airline handled 811,000 tonnes of freight and post, which is a 0.5 per cent increase over the same period in the previous year. The cargo load factor was 67.6 per cent, a decline of 2.5 percentage points. Lufthansa saw freight growth on its Americas and African and Middle East routes in the first half of 2015, but sales in Europe and Asia were slightly down.

In the Americas, volumes were up by 3.9 per cent to 258,000 tonnes and the cargo load factor was 67.2 per cent, a fall of 1.5 percentage points. In Africa and the Middle East, tonnage was up 4.7 per cent to 68,000 tonnes and the load factor was 54.6 per cent, down 0.4 percentage points.

The carrier saw a fall in Europe of 2.2 per cent to 263,000 tonnes and the load factor fell by 1.8 percentage points to 48.7 per cent. In Asia Pacific, there was a drop of 1.3 per cent to 222,000 tonnes and the load factor fell by 4.2 percentage points to 74 per cent. Lufthansa Cargo says its half yearly results show it is, “holding its own in a challenging market environment,” and its chief executive officer and chairman of the executive board, Peter Gerber, explains: “After an exceptionally good start to 2015, we were aware of the challenging market situation again in the second quarter. We are monitoring the market very carefully and can react by adjusting our routes flexibly and quickly to changes in demand. This allows us to meet the needs of our customers while at the same time guaranteeing the profitability of the individual connections.”

Last month, Lufthansa Cargo launched a route to Natal (Brazil) and it will offer an additional service to and from Vietnam later this month. The carrier will announce its financial results for the first six months of the year on 31 July.