Air France-KLM’s cargo traffic declined 6.6 percent in September from a year ago as further cuts in its freighter operations shrunk the airline’s market share.
The reduced full-freighter schedule trimmed the Franco-Dutch carrier’s overall cargo capacity by 4.5 percent, reducing the load factor by 1.4 percentage points to 63.2 percent.
The Asia-Pacific region posted the biggest decline, with traffic, measured in revenue tonne kilometers, slumping 10.1 percent from September 2011 as capacity shrank 14.7 percent.
Traffic was down 4.7 percent on the Americas network on 2.3 percent more capacity, which reduced the load factor by 4.5 points to 61.3 percent.
The decline in traffic is set to continue as Air France has said it is no longer pursuing market share in the volatile air cargo market and is reducing freighter capacity by 20 percent. The lower September cargo figures followed a 7.8 percent year-on-year decline in August.
The Journal of Commerce Online
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