Cargo demand rises for European airlines in August

European airlines Lufthansa, IAG Cargo and Finnair all saw record cargo demand last month, according to a report from industry news outlet Air Cargo News.    European airlines saw record levels of cargo demand in August, with Europe’s largest cargo carrier, Lufthansa, and Finnair seeing the biggest increases in freight traffic, according to Air Cargo News.
   Lufthansa saw cargo capacity increase 2.3 percent due to the airline’s load factor increasing to 66.4 percent, up from 61.9 percent last year. The airline’s cargo demand increase by 9.8 percent year-over-year as well, according to Air Cargo News. 
   IAG Cargo saw cargo demand increase by 7.6 percent year-over-year, with demand improving by 5.4 percent during the first eight months of 2017 compared to the same period last year, said Air Cargo News.
   Air France KLM also recorded traffic increases of 1.2 percent year-over-year, though performance at the airline has been affected by “slimming down of the KLM freighter fleet,” as its original six aircraft has been reduced to four B747-400Fs, said Air Cargo News. As a result, its cargo capacity for the month was down by 1.2 percent against last year and the load factor increased to 56 percent from 54.7 percent a year prior, said Air Cargo News.
   Another major European airline, Finnair, recorded a 20.2 percent increase in demand, marking August as its busiest ever, said Air Cargo News.
  “The strong performance of cargo continued in August, driven by the main Chinese destinations, Hong Kong, Japan, Norway and Finland,” the airline said. “Finnair’s total cargo capacity also included three weekly freighter flights between Helsinki and Brussels, operated by DHL as well as cargo space rented on Japan Airlines’ daily flights between Tokyo and Helsinki.”