Lufthansa saw cargo demand increase by 8.2% year-on-year in September to 883m FTKs, the airline’s third consecutive monthly improvement in cargo demand and the airline’s largest year-on-year percentage improvement since 2012. A Lufthansa spokesperson reportedly deemed the carrier’s figures stable in terms of tonnage, adding that market overcapacity was continuing to present a challenge to pricing.
IAG Cargo was another airline that saw its cargo traffic increase in September, this time by 6.9% year-on-year to 448m FTKs. This was the sixth month in a row that IAG saw an increase in demand, and the eighth of the year so far. Its growth has likely been facilitated by the acquisition of Aer Lingus at the start of the year.
And the good news doesn’t end there; British Airways saw demand increase by 6.1% and Iberia saw a 13.9% surge in demand in September. Finnair also recorded a jump of 23.2% in cargo traffic compared to last year, to 81.8m FTKs – the airline’s ninth consecutive increase and the second greatest leap of the year so far. It has also seen load factor improve to 65.8% from 55.8% last year.
There were some negative results, with Air France KLM reporting a 4.5% decline in demand to 714m FTKs in September; however, improvements indicate strong potential for a reasonable peak season.
