Declining air freight – various news items
At UK airports, CAA figures show air freight tonnage has fallen each month since May. (see below). It had been rising during the first part of the year. IFW reports that Lufthansa Cargo is cutting 20% or even 30% of its cargo capacity in the new year, to counter anticipated slowdown in demand. (a 25% drop = one aircraft). Lufthansa has shelved its plan for a new cargo hub at Frankfurt, as there is a night flights ban from 11pm to 5am. Moving flights elsewhere is now costing it many millions of €s.
LC (Lufthansa Cargo) plans drastic new year cut in capacity to meet slowdown
Lufthansa shelves plan for new air cargo hub at Frankfurt
Table 13 each month is Freight by type and Nature of Operator (freight for all UK reporting airports)
| (216,336 tonnes in Oct 2010) |
| September 2011 – 09 187,171 tonnes (198,358 tonnes in Sept 2010) |
| August 2011 – 08 186,478 tonnes (196 147 tonnes in Aug 2010) |
| July 2011 – 07 194,643 tonnes (203,063 tonnes in July 2010) |
| June 2011 – 06 194,864 tonnes (199,824 tonnes in June 2010) |
| May 2011 – 05 196,959 tonnes (206,426 tonnes in May 2010) |
| April 2011 – 04 186,786 tonnes (158,768 tonnes in April 2010) |
| March 2011 – 03 206,016 tonnes (211,338 tonnes in March 2010) |
| February 2011 – 02 182,042 tonnes (177,312 tonnes in Feb 2010) |
| January 2011 – 01 179,059 tonnes (167,058 tonnes in Jan 2010) |
| 2010 – Annual 2,324,822 tonnes (2,047,861 tonnes in 2009) |
Seventh successive monthly fall at HKIA
David Badger| Mon, 21 Nov 2011 Volumes at world’s busiest cargo airport in step with global downward trend.
Hong Kong International Airport (HKIA), the world’s busiest air cargo hub, recorded its seventh successive monthly decrease in volumes in October.Air cargo volumes totalled 342,000 tonnes, last month, down 8.2% year on year.
“HKIA’s cargo performance is consistent with the worldwide negative growth trend,” said CEO Stanley Hui.
In the first 10 months of 2011, the Hong Kong airport handled 3.3 million tonnes, down 4.4% on the same period last year.
Cathay Pacific, based at HKIA and the world’s largest cargo carrier, last week reported October cargo volumes down 17.5% this year, due to continuing weak demand in Hong Kong and China.
IAG Cargo cautiously optimistic after modest Q3 growth
Kizzi Nkwocha | Fri, 4 Nov 2011
Air freight carrier blames tough global trading conditions
The cargo arm of International Airlines Group, IAG Cargo, comprising of BA World Cargo and Iberia Cargo, has reported a modest increase in Q3 results, “reflecting 2011’s challenging global trading conditions”.For the period from July to September, IAG Cargo recorded commercial revenue (flown revenue plus fuel surcharges) of €288 million (US$397m), just ahead of the €287 million in the same period last year.
However, the carrier’s year-to-date total was €880 million, an increase of 10.6% on 2010.
Q3 cargo capacity was up 3.3% and 6.2% for the year to date, a modest increase IAG Cargo said was a reflection of the tough trading conditions facing the global economy.
Volumes of almost 1.5 billion cargo tonne km (CTK) for the quarter represented an increase of 1.2% on Q3 last year, with the year-to-date figure of 4.56 billion CTK up 5.3% on 2010.
IAG Cargo MD Steve Gunning said: “Against a backdrop of robust results for the first half of 2011, the results for the third quarter reflect the challenging conditions facing the world economy.
“The contraction in demand for Asian exports – a result of the European debt crisis and the sluggish US economy – has meant only a modest growth in revenue.
“Because of this, we are cautious about future performance, although we believe our geographically diverse revenue base and measured capacity reintroduction leave us well positioned.”