The Americas assist Lufthansa Cargo lift

LUFTHANSA Cargo continues its successful start to the year with a 25.2 per cent increase in freight traffic in February from the same period a year ago.

Traffic rose 26.7 per cent on the Americas routes to 53,000 tons, while Asia-Pacific services achieved a 21.6 per cent rise to 44,000 tons.

Cargo revenue leapt 23.9 per cent from February 2009 on a 25 per cent spurt in capacity, trimming the load factor by 0.6 per cent to 71.9 per cent.

Those reactivated MD-11 freighters clearly spread their wings in February beating January’s year-on-year rise of 17.5 per cent. Booming traffic has also been a clear reflection of the fleet expansion at Aero-Logic.

The Lufthansa group, which includes SwissWorldCargo, Austrian Airlines and the UK’s bmi, boosted February freight traffic 22.5 per cent to 167,000 tons, against 16.8 per cent growth in January. Freight revenue was 17.5 per cent higher than in February 2009 on a 15.9 per cent increase in capacity, and the load factor eased by 0.9 per cent to 69.3 per cent.