Lufthansa Cargo reported a year-on-year revenue drop of 36% in 2023 due to rates normalising after the highs seen during the pandemic era.
The cargo arm of German airline Lufthansa recorded revenue of €2.98bn in 2023, a drop of 36% from €4.6bn in 2022.
Lufthansa Cargo also generated an adjusted ebit of €219m, compared to €1.6bn in 2022.
The average load factor fell by 1.9 percentage points year on year to 59.2%, while the available capacity increased by 7% to 12.6 billion available freight ton-kilometers.
Overall, sales of 7.5bn freight ton-kilometers last year were slightly higher than in 2022 (7.2bn) as the carrier benefitted from returning belly capacity.
However, Lufthansa Cargo said it was able to "achieve significantly higher average yields than before the start of the corona pandemic despite increased capacities in the market".
"Despite a volatile business environment, which was influenced by global tensions last year, Lufthansa Cargo was able to successfully maintain its position. We owe this above all to the trust of our customers, and also to our employees, who mastered the year with great commitment and determination," said Ashwin Bhat, chief executive of Lufthansa Cargo.
"However, the development also shows that we must not slow down. We need to continuously work on improving our quality, our network and our service promise to remain attractive."
Lufthansa Cargo expects demand to grow slightly in the current financial year 2024. Adjusted ebit is expected to be approximately at the previous year's level.
"In view of the still very dynamic environment, however, the forecast is subject to a high degree of uncertainty," said the company.
Lufthansa Cargo plans to modernise its cargo centre at its Frankfurt hub this year with an investment of €500m. It is also due to see its Boeing 777 freighter fleet grow to 18 aircraft.
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