Lufthansa Cargo has considerably decelerated the decline in tonnage in the second quarter of the 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% decline for the first half of 2013 as a whole. In a challenging environment with weak demand and overcapacities in important air freight markets, Lufthansa Cargo has succeeded in bucking the overall market trend by increasing the capacity utilisation of its aircraft to a high level of 70.0 per cent. This has been made possible by flexible, demand-oriented capacity management.

“There are clear signs of the weak performance of the global economy in the level of demand”, said Lufthansa Cargo CEO and Chairman of the Executive Board Karl Ulrich Garnadt in respect of the half-year figures. “The recent withdrawals of a number of cargo airlines from the market demonstrate the degree to which the air freight industry is struggling with this. Our strategy of securing the profitability of our routes through high capacity utilisation is proving successful in this environment.” At the same time, however, Garnadt announced that there will be further investment in the quality of the freighter network. For example, new routes to the US, South America and China 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 again.

The financial results for the first six months of the year will be announced on 2 August.

Please find the detailed results here.