Swiss, Lufthansa update cargo pricing structure

Swiss WorldCargo and Lufthansa Cargo said their new cargo pricing structure, effective Oct. 25, will contain just two components: a net rate and an “airfreight surcharge.”    Swiss WorldCargo and Lufthansa Cargo said their new cargo pricing structure, effective Oct. 25, will contain just two components: a net rate and an “airfreight surcharge.”
   The different surcharges currently in place, such as those covering fuel and security, will be eliminated.
   “As the new air freight surcharge will be much lower than the total amount of the current surcharges, the net rates will be re-aligned so that overall prices of transportation will remain at current levels,” the airlines explained in a press release.
   “The net rate will be considerably more important, and we will be able to significantly reduce special processes, such as negative rates, with the lower air freight surcharge. That cuts down on complexity and makes us faster,” said Alexis von Hoensbroech, Lufthansa’s cargo board member for product and sales, in a statement.
   “The new airfreight surcharge reflects the volatility of external cost factors beyond the airlines’ control, such as fuel, currency rates, airport charges and fees,” added Oliver Evans, chief cargo officer at Swiss. “The air freight surcharge will be adjusted whenever one of these external cost factors changes significantly and thus will display necessary price adjustments in a transparent way. This would not have been the case with an all-in rate, which both airlines reviewed in detail. An all-in rate would have been less transparent.”
   For legal reasons, the airlines said the current surcharge structure for air cargo will remain in place in those countries where pricing is subject to government regulation, such as Japan and Hong Kong.