Lufthansa Cargo 2023 earnings down 86%

Lufthansa Cargo generated an adjusted EBIT of €219 million for 2023 compared to €1.6 billion in 2022, a decline of 86 percent. Revenue fell by 36 percent to €2.98 billion (previous year: €4.6 billion euros).

Sales of 7.5 billion freight ton-kilometres last year were slightly higher than in the previous year 2022 (7.2 billion), says an official release. "The average load factor fell by 1.9 percentage points year-on-year to 59.2 percent while the available capacity increased by seven percent to 12.6 billion available freight ton-kilometres.

"After the airfreight market recorded high freight rates in the years from 2020 until 2022 due to low capacities as a result of the Corona pandemic, these normalised last year as expected. Lufthansa Cargo was able to achieve significantly higher average yields than before the start of the corona pandemic despite increased capacities in the market."

Ashwin Bhat, CEO, Lufthansa Cargo says: "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. 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.

"Around 80 percent of our global freight traffic is handled in Frankfurt, one of the most important hubs in Europe. This also shows the importance of the hub for the growing e-commerce market. In order to continue to meet the needs of our customers in the future, we are also investing in the modernisation of our cargo centre at our Frankfurt hub in 2024."

The modernisation project at the Frankfurt hub with an investment of €500 million will enable higher handling speeds, smooth transport processes and an improvement in service quality, thanks to state-of-the-art technologies in the infrastructure, the release added.

Freighter fleet to be optimised
Part of Lufthansa Cargo's development plans is the expansion of the B777F fleet and the global network. "The fourth A321 freighter has also been in operation in the cargo airline's route network since November 2023. This means that more than 32 weekly flights can now be offered to 18 destinations in the short and medium-haul network. In addition, the B777F fleet will grow to 18 freighters in 2024, enabling up to 87 connections worldwide in the course of the summer flight schedule. The continued recovery in passenger air traffic and the associated expansion of cargo capacity on passenger aircraft also had a positive impact on growth. By marketing the belly capacities of Lufthansa, Austrian Airlines, Brussels Airlines, Discover Airlines and SunExpress, Lufthansa Cargo's customers will have access to up to 7,000 flights per week to destinations worldwide."

Continued focus on sustainability
Lufthansa Cargo continued its commitment to sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) with a weekly freighter flight covered with SAF. "In addition, the CO2 balance of the B777F fleet is being further improved by the innovative AeroSHARK technology. The surface film, which is inspired by the skin of a shark, reduces the frictional resistance of the aircraft in the air and thus lowers kerosene consumption. It will be successively applied to the entire fleet by the end of 2027."

2024 outlook
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, the release added.