In the first six months of this year, Lufthansa Cargo carried 811,000 tonnes of freight and post. This is a 0.5 per cent increase over the same period the previous year and means the cargo carrier is holding its own in a challenging market environment, the it said, pointing to “flexible supply management” as being a key strategy.

Load factor was at 67.6 per cent, down 2.5 percentage points with Lufthansa Cargo achieving four per cent freight growth on its American and African routes, while sales in Europe and Asia were down slightly.

“After an exceptionally good start to 2015, we were aware of the challenging market situation again in the second quarter. We are monitoring the market very carefully and can react by adjusting our routes flexibly and quickly to changes in demand. This allows us to meet the needs of our customers while at the same time guaranteeing the profitability of the individual connections”, explains Peter Gerber, CEO and chairman of the executive board. Among other things, Lufthansa Cargo has incorporated the Brazilian city of Natal into its network and will be offering an additional service to and from Vietnam in the summer. The financial results for the first six months of the year will be announced on 31 July.