Lufthansa's freight volume tumbles 7.5 per cent

Lufthansa has revealed that its freight traffic slid 7.5 per cent year-on-year in July as its planes were grounded by strikes and the US economy continued to weaken.

Lufthansa Cargo, the carrier's standalone freight airline, transported 142,000 tonnes of freight in July as the number of flights fell by 18 per cent compared to July 2007. In the first seven months of the year volume slipped by 1.7 per cent to just over one million tonnes.

"The Americas traffic region, which is suffering from the economic downswing, was particularly affected," said a Lufthansa spokesman.

Cargo volume on routes to North and South America fell by 6.8 per cent to 45,000 tonnes, leaving traffic for the first seven months down 16.4 per cent at 332,000 tonnes.

Volume to and from the Asia-Pacific region increased by 3.3 per cent in July to 46,000 tonnes, the first time in more than a year that it has exceeded volume on the Americas network.

Cargo volume for the Lufthansa group, which includes SwissWorldCargo, totalled 162,000 tonnes, down 5.1 per cent from July 2007 but up 9.3 per cent in the first seven months at 1.1 million tonnes.

Lufthansa recently said its cargo unit had pumped money into its joint venture unit Jade Cargo in China but declined to provide details of the capital injection.

Jade Cargo was formed in 2006 with a 25 per cent stake from the German carrier. China's Shenzhen Airlines owns 51 per cent and 24 per cent is held by the DEG Deutsche Investitions-und Entwicklungsgesellschaft, a unit of German state-owned banking group KfW.

The Lufthansa spokesman said Jade Cargo's flights were expected to become profitable next year, adding that all six Jade Cargo aircraft were operational.

Lufthansa is Europe's largest air cargo carrier.