Lufthansa Cargo sees revenues, profits and volumes fall in Q1

After three consecutive years of record profits, it was back to earth with a bump for Lufthansa Cargo in the first quarter of the year as revenues, profits and volumes all declined.

The German airline’s logistics division, which includes Lufthansa Cargo, Jettainer, time:matters, HeyWorld and a 50% stake in AeroLogic, registered a 30% year-on-year decline in first quarter revenues to €823m and earnings before interest and tax declined 69% on last year to €149m.

Meanwhile, volumes fell 3% to 1.7bn revenue cargo tonne kms and the cargo load factor was 7.7 percentage points down on last year at 61.2% on the back of a 9% increase in cargo capacity.

Source: Lufthansa Group

Lufthansa said the result wasn’t surprising given the market slowdown experienced in recent months.

“The operating performance in the Logistics business segment in the first quarter of 2023 fell short of the record level seen in the previous year, as expected.

“During the coronavirus pandemic, the reduction of freight capacities in the bellies of passenger aircraft together with the high level of demand due to the supply chain disruptions had resulted in record revenue.

“The continued recovery of passenger traffic also prompted an expansion of freight capacity; in addition, demand declined due to the general economic slowdown, leading to a normalisation of global freight rates.”

The airline group added that cargo yields remain around 60% up on pre-Covid levels.

Looking at regional performance, the logistics division’s Americas region saw first-quarter volumes decline by 11% against last year, there was a 3% fall for Middle East/Africa, an increase of 5% for Asia and an increase of 4% for Europe.

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