Lufthansa Cargo saw its freight traffic grow by 13.8 per cent in April from a its Frankfurt hub. The near halving of the growth rate from the 26.4 percent year-on-year increase in March partly reflected the closure of north European airspace when a cloud of ash from an erupting Icelandic volcano drifted across the continent.

The German carrier handled 129,000 tonnes of cargo compared with 113,000 tonnes in April 2009, taking volume for the first four months to 520,000 tonnes compared to 441,000 tonnes in the same period a year ago. Lufthansa Cargo’s revenue grew by 25.3 per cent in April and improved its load factor, by 13.3 percentage points to 72.3 per cent — above the pre-crisis level of April 2008 for the second month running.

The overall Lufthansa Group meanwhile, which includes Austrian Airlines and Swiss, saw a 13.2 per cent rise in volumes to 146,000 tonnes, boosting volume for the first four months by 16.9 per cent to 591,000 tonnes.