Lufthansa Cargo reports drop in throughput

The German cargo airline carried 1.6 million tons of freight and mail in 2015, around a 2 percent decline from 2014.    Lufthansa Cargo transported 1.6 million tons of freight and mail in 2015, around a 2 percent decline from 2014, the German cargo airline said.
   Available capacity rose 2 percent year-over-year in 2015. However, with a slight drop in sales, Lufthansa Cargo’s load factor also felt the pinch and ended up slipping 3.4 percent from 2014 to 66.3 percent.
   “Turbulence in the Chinese market and the strong U.S. dollar that affected a lot of industries stretched us all to our limits,” Lufthansa Cargo CEO and Chairman of the Executive Board Peter Gerber said in a statement. “Strikes called by the Vereinigung Cockpit pilots’ union and the cabin crew union UFO also weighed heavily on us at Lufthansa Cargo.”
   Nevertheless, the cargo airline managed to add new destinations in places such as Turkmenistan, Vietnam and Brazil to its flight schedule during the year.
   However, Lufthansa Cargo is withdrawing two MD-11 freighters from its fleet to increase capacity utilization on its routes. The cargo airline will offer flights on its five new Boeing 777 freighters and 12 MD-11 freighters.