Cargolux net profits surge in 2015

The cargo-dedicated airline saw net profits after tax increase to $49 million for the full year in 2015, compared with $3 million in 2014.    Cargolux, a Luxembourg-based cargo-dedicated airline, reported net profits after tax of $49 million for the full year in 2015, compared with $3 million in 2014.
   “While this excellent result benefited from a reduction in fuel costs, it is in large part due to the hard work of our people, as well as our strategy and the corresponding measures that we began to introduce in 2014 in order to reduce our costs,” Cargolux President and CEO Dirk Reich said in a statement.
   Revenues for the year dropped to $1.9 billion.
   Cargolux carried 889,652 metric tons of freight in 2015, a 7.4 percent year-over-year increase. In addition, the airline flew 114,792 block hours during the year, an 8.8 percent increase from the all-time high in 2014, while the load factor remained largely unchanged at 65.9 percent.
   By the end of 2015, Cargolux operated with a fleet of 26 Boeing 747 freighters, consisting of a mix of 747-400 and 747-8 freighters.
   In early 2016, Cargolux’s Board of Directors approved of a $77 million investment for “Cargolux China,” a new joint venture Chinese cargo airline. The joint venture airline will based at Zhengzhou, Cargolux’s new hub in China, and is expected to commence operations in 2017 to serve transpacific and intra-Asian routes.