Lufthansa Cargo’s operating profit rose 20.6 per cent to €164 million year on year as revenue gained 6.3 per cent to €2.9 billion.
The cargo division’s results come in the face of a severe industry downturn which saw a six per cent decline in cargo traffic to 1.7 million tonnes from 1.8 million tonnes in 2007, and represents the second best result since Lufthansa Cargo was established as an independent unit in 1994.
“The crisis has reached dimensions in our industry that are far beyond what we had experienced until now,†Carsten Spohr said at the cargo division’s recent management conference. The first two months of the year saw volume declines of nearly 25 per cent, Spohr said.
In a bid to cope with the continual weakening of demand, Lufthansa has introduced shortened working hours for both pilots and ground crews in its cargo division, and cargo managers there have taken a voluntary 10 per cent pay cut.
Revenue on the Americas network rose 12.8 per cent to €776 million despite a 3.6 per cent drop in traffic to 483,000 tonnes. Asia/Pacific revenue was up 4.5 per cent to €1.16 billion on a 2.3 per cent decline in volume to 466,000 tonnes. European revenue dropped 7.6 per cent to €298.6 million and traffic slumped 12.4 per cent to 634,000 tonnes.
Lufthansa has grounded four of its 19 MD-11 freighters and cut hours for 2,600 cargo handlers by 20 per cent starting this month after traffic dropped by close to 25 percent year on year in January and February.
As a result of the plummeting traffic – down nearly 25 per cent in January and February, year-on-year, Lufthansa Cargo said that it will ground two MD- 11 freighters based at Leipzig/Halle and park two more aircraft at Frankfurt.
The Frankfurt pair will not fly but will be maintained enabling them to immediately resume operations once demand picks up. This reduction represents nearly 20 per cent of the cargo division’s total capacity of its 19 MD-11F fleet.
Lufthansa Cargo said it would not rule out grounding additional aircraft if volumes continue to decline, but added no layoffs are planned and the company has off ered its pilots part-time work solutions.
Earlier in December the cargo carrier also suspended its wet-lease of two MD-11Fs and one 747-400F from World Airways.
Meanwhile, it is expected that Lufthansa Group – which overall reported a €599 million net profit for the year, down 63.8 per cent from the €1.66 billion earned in 2007, will ground more passenger aircraft. It already has parked four A300-600s at Leipzig/Halle.