Frankfurt cargo handle dips in first half

In spite of a strong first quarter, Frankfurt Airport’s airfreight and air mail throughput for the first half of the year, declined by 1.8 percent, year-over-year, to about 1.04 million tonnes. In June, cargo throughput dropped by 2.5 percent, y-o-y, to 173,984 metric tonnes.

Lufthansa Cargo, the airport’s largest cargo carrier, carried 811,000 tonnes of freight and air mail in the first six months of the year – a 0.5 percent increase over the same period in 2014 – and reported a load factor of 67.5 percent, down 2.5 percentage points. The carrier did achieve 4 percent growth on its American and African routes, but said sales in Europe and Asia were down slightly.

“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,” said Peter Gerber, CEO and chairman of Lufthansa Cargo.

Lufthansa has incorporated the Brazilian city of Natal into its network and will offer service to and from Vietnam this summer. Full financial results for the first six months of 2015 will be announced July 31.