How Lufthansa managed the decline

FLEXIBLE manipulation of its capacity has allowed Lufthansa Cargo to arrest the decline in tonnage carried in the second quarter of this year.
The company transported 0.8 per cent less cargo and mail in June than in the same month in 2012. There was a 3.5 per cent decline for the first half of 2013 as a whole.
Despite the challenging environment – with weak demand and overcapacity in important airfreight markets – the carrier has succeeded in bucking the overall market trend by increasing the capacity utilisation of its aircraft to a high level of 70 per cent.
“This has been made possible by flexible, demand-oriented capacity management,” says a statement.
Karl Ulrich Garnadt, chief executive, notes: “There are clear signs of the weak performance of the global economy in the level of demand.
“The recent withdrawals of a number of cargo airlines from the market demonstrate the degree to which the airfreight industry is struggling with this.
“Our strategy of securing the profitability of our routes through high capacity utilisation is proving successful in this environment.”
Garnadt says there will be further investment in the quality of the freighter network, such as in new routes to the USA, South America and China, which are planned for the winter schedule.
Lufthansa Cargo has already added the Mexican city of Guadalajara, with two weekly connections there since March of this year, and the airline has also slightly increased its offering in China.

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