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European air cargo demand growth posts best year since 2013

EUROPEAN airlines ended 2016 on a high note with annual cargo demand up at Lufthansa, IAG and Finnair, according to the latest monthly airline statistics, which show that European carriers enjoyed their best year in terms of demand growth since 2013.

Lufthansa airlines saw revenue cargo tonne kilometres (RCTK) increase 1.4 per cent during the year to 10 billion RCTK. It is the first time since 2013 that the airline giant has seen cargo demand increase compared with the previous year, although traffic is still below the 10.9 billion RCTK it carried in 2011.

The year also ended well for the German airline group as it registered a December increase of 8.3 per cent to 845 million RCTK ?its highest percentage increase of the year. Its average load factor for the year stood at 66.6 per cent compared with 66.3 per cent in 2015, while the December figure stood at 70.3 per cent.

It was also a bumper year for IAG Cargo as demand improved by three per cent year on year to 5.4 billion cargo tonne kilometres (CTK). It was the first year the airline recorded an increase in cargo demand since London's Air Cargo News records begin in 2012. One factor that contributed to the improvement was IAG's takeover of the Aer Lingus group.

British Airway's demand for the year was up 1.3 per cent and Iberia recorded a 3.5 per cent improvement. There was also an annual improvement in traffic at Finnair Cargo where it saw demand improve by 11 per cent year on year to 873 million revenue tonne km (RTK). This was the first annual increase recorded by the airline since 2013.

However, there was a dip in demand of 15.7 per cent in December after the implementation of a new cargo management system (CMS) which initially caused problems for Finnair Cargo. Its load factor for the year stood at 59.7 per cent compared with 57.1 per cent in 2015.

It wasn't quite such a good year for Air France KLM Cargo as it took steps to adjust its freighter fleet. The Franco-Dutch group saw cargo traffic for the year decline by 6.3 per cent to 8.4 billion RTK. This decline follows on from a slip of 8.5 per cent in 2015. In December, demand was down by 1.6 per cent to 737 million RTK. Its load factor for the year stood at 59.3 per cent compared with 60.4 per cent in 2015.